Once On A Blue Moon
by T'Mu-Yor
Summary: This is a more adult version of Once in a blue moon. I must warn you that it ISN'T the exact same story... main char is Different. BUT if you liked 'Once in a Blue Moon' you should like 'Once On A Blue Moon' Basically a girl drops into ME
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, I've been getting a lot of reviews for my story 'Once in a Blue moon' lately and it gave me an idea for a sort of parallel story… not quite a sequel, nor is it a rewrite of the story… its more like a parallel universe or something. You may see some things happen in this story that happened in the other, simply because I LOVED how that scene turned out… if you like once in a blue moon you'll like once on a blue moon… please read and review.

PAY ATTENTION! I'm only doing this once because I hate writing the same dang thing every chapter…

I DON"T OWN LOTR or any characters, languages or plots that they (the movie and the books) may entail. BUT I do own my original character Alana. I would add Vanmoriel and Alagos to this but they are just names and horses, feel free to use them if you want but Alana is mine and unless you ask permission I'll sick my vicious puppy on you. She'll lick you to death!

Once on a blue moon

Chapter one

Time is a mysterious thing, one moment your ten years old begging your parents to take you to the fair that is in town for the summer, the next moment you're twenty three years old and watching your life fall apart. Time passes quickly when you want it to sit still and creeps by when you are anticipating a future event. Yet no one can control time or what happens, except the fates, if you believe in that sort of thing.

Back in high school I took an astronomy class and learned about the blue moon, my grandmother use to always say 'as rare as a blue moon' and for the longest time I thought that the blue moon was as rare as a solar eclipse. In reality it came about every two years or so, a rare occurrence, but not as rare as grandma lead me to believe. I always love to watch out for the blue moon, and this year had a blue moon in January. The first moon was on new years so when a second full moon occurred on the thirtieth but only in part of the world, it was a strange occurrence… not only would there not be a full moon on new years until 2028 but to have a blue moon in the same month I just had to spend some time watching the moon, even if it was freakishly cold that night.

I dug out my favorite heavy blanket and curled up on the hood of my baby, an old white 1992 Pontiac Sunbird convertible, the sky was mostly clear only a few stray clouds in the sky though the ground was bare from snow the air was frigid with the wind chill it had to be around negative fifteen degrees outside. Other than the blanket I was wrapped up in I had on a heavy camo military style jacket, thick winter camo pants, heavy combat boots, thick wool boots, gloves and hat kept me from feeling to much. As I lie back looking up at the moon I start to think back onto all that had happened in only the last four months. My mom and stepdad, who had raised me since I was three, got a divorce, Dale had two strokes and couldn't see out of his left eye and my mom had moved down to Florida leaving me to fend for myself. True I was 23 and old enough to take care of myself just fine, I was in school and I still had my family for support. It was a bit overwhelming at times but I was learning to deal with the new stresses in my life. Luckily my friends were keeping me sane. Bella, a girl I met almost ten years ago at Civil Air Patrol and has been my best friend ever since, would drag me out of the house when I buried myself to deep in school work and depression.

The sound of thunder drew me out of my reverie, it was strange to hear thunder at this time of year. I searched the sky for what might have caused the sound but I saw nothing but the stray cloud. I brushed the sound off figuring it might have been a loud simi on the nearby highway. I closed my eyes again sinking into the memories of my youth. I spent six years in Civil Air Patrol learning military skills, how to survive in the wild, search and rescue skills and even some basic first aid. I hadn't been in CAP in nearly four years, school had kept me too busy to truly stay active, but I still loved to spend time looking at old pictures and catching up with many of the friends I made there.

Again the sound of thunder pierced my ears, this time I jumped at how close it sounded. My ears actually were hurting and ringing. I quickly opened my eyes and was startled to find that instead of the dark partially cloudy sky that I had been periodically watching for nearly an hour there were thick trees and the periodic peaks of sunshine. The air on my face was warm almost too hot at times, like the late summer. I was confused and a bit stunned so thinking I had fallen asleep I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes but the scene didn't change. I even tried pinching myself, and that only caused a sharp pain and stressed how awake I really was. Looking around the forest I tried to get my bearings but the heat was only causing a distraction. So I shed my heavy winter coat, gloves, hat and blanket. I tucked the gloves and hat in the pockets of my jacket then folded them all placing them on a log.

Part of me really didn't want to let the coat or blanket out of my sight but they were bulky and the forest was rather dense, the blanket would get caught on everything so I resolved to leave them there and hopefully come back to get them once I found some civilization. Luckily I kept a heavy duty pocket knife in that jacket so I had some sort of defense and a basic survival tool. After stowing that in one of my cargo pockets I tried to find out which direction was north, moss didn't help because the forest was so dense it grew evenly on all sides. Luckily it was either early enough or late enough in the day that what little sun came through the tree tops came in at an angle so as long as I watched them and kept them going in general the same direction I would know I was going in a strait path instead of circles.

I walked for hours, come to find out it must have been morning when I started my trek because soon the sunbeams were shining strait up and down and I had to stop because they weren't helping me any more. Beyond that fact I was exhausted, I had been up since seven in the morning when all of this started and apparently it was noon… though I lost some time in what ever transition I made I had still be up for at least twenty four hours and walking for about six of those. The noon heat was reduced because I was in the shade but it was still really warm so I decided it was the best time for a nap. I could get a few hours sleep and by the time I woke up the sun should be slanted again and I could start my search for civilization again. Hopefully I was heading in the correct direction because the only downfall with my plan is that I could be making a beeline for the middle of nowhere with a city only minutes in the opposite direction I started off in.

It felt like only seconds after I closed my eyes that I was started awake by a mysterious sound. My eye snapped open and I went to jump up but an arrow pointed between my eyes only inchs from my face kept me rooted to the tree where I had chosen to make camp. The man who was behind the arrow was glaring at me and it was only when I heard a second and third voice that I noticed that he wasn't alone, yet I never took my eyes off the arrow nor the man who controlled it. He was a mystery to me, with long brown hair and flawless skin. In short he was beautiful, beautiful to a fault. I wanted to smear mud in his pretty face just to make him look more normal.

He spit out a few strange words to me and I rolled my eyes "I don't understand you, try another language if you want me to do what ever you're growling about"

He glared harder and if looks could kill I would be dead on that strange forest floor, but luckily they can't. "Who are you where do you hale from and what are you doing in the forest of Rivendell?"

I blinked a few times then started laughing softly "Hale… Rivendell… dude, I think you've gone off the deep end."

The pointy, and sharp… very very sharp arrow came even closer and my laughing stopped. I tried to slowly inch my hand towards my pocket but with the first move the man drew the arrow back but not in retreat he was about to shoot me in the face. I stopped moving and gulped. I quickly decided to answer his strange questions, even though I thought that he was insane. "I'm Alana Wood and I have no clue why I am here. Sorry to say but I got lost and am just trying to find some sign of civilization. Now could you please get your pointy stick out of my face?"

He didn't remove the arrow from my face until one of the other voices came up resting a hand on his shoulder. They spoke a few words in the strange language, it sounded familiar but my step dad liked watching subtitled films so it could be that I just heard the language in passing. The arrow wielder seemed reluctant to remove the arrow from my face but he listened to the other man and soon he took a step back and the other man was holding a hand out towards me. "Sorry about my companion Miss Alana but the forests are not as safe as they once were, threats lie around many corners."

I took his hand quickly raising to my feet and brushing off my pants then gave the nicer pretty boy a half smile "That's all well and good but let me tell you that is probably the worst way to wake up from a nap. You guys could have just told me to wake up without the sharp pointy object shoved in my face."

The pretty boy seemed confused by what I said but after a few seconds he seemed to have translated what I said and seemed a bit ashamed "I am truly sorry about that miss. Perhaps we could make it up to you by escorting you to Rivendell, I am sure lord Elrond will have someone escort you back to you village."

I sighed finally looking at the three men that had found me. All of them had overly long hair pulled back in some strange fashion, were wearing tunics and breeches and what looked like hand made leather boots. They looked like they had stepped out of some medieval movie or something. Maybe they were going to a convention or something. "That would be um… good. I would appreciate the help. Though perhaps you could tell me your names if I'm going to travel with you"

Pretty boy nodded his head and stood up straighter "This is Daugion" He pointed to the man who had pointed an arrow in my face "This is Taurhassdorien" he pointed to the man who was silent "and I am Legolas"

I sputtered for a few minutes and it was only then that I noticed that all three of the pretty boys had pointy ears and boy did they look REAL! " Ni…. Nice to meet you all"

I may not have been a big lord of the rings fan, to tell the truth I had only watched the movies with some friends but even I knew who Legolas was. Part of me didn't want to believe that I could be in middle earth, that same small part of me was screaming that these people were insane and I needed to run away, but a small part of me hoped that this was real. It would be awesome to really meet a real live elf. I decided to listen to the small part of me who was estatic about meeting an elf and smiled warmly at the three elves "Well it is wonderful to meet you Legolas, Taurhassdorien… I really can't say its nice meeting you Daugion, you did just have an arrow poking my nose"

He frowned at me but Legolas laughed and my attention went right back to him. He was gorgeous, his long sandy blond hair and ice blue eyes looked wonderful in his sun tanned skin. If I remembered right the elves in the movies were pale and had perfect skin, this Legolas was very tan though his skin still looked flawless. Quick glances at the other two elves showed they had more of the stereotypical skin tone. Legolas must love being outdoors and away from shade.

"We are running behind M'lord, we need to get going" Daugion interrupted us and Legolas stopped laughing and quickly nodded his head. He turned back to me and smiled "We are on a bit of a deadline to reach Lord Elrond's home. We need to get moving, I am sorry but we've only got three horses, you will have to ride with one of us"

I nodded briefly and each of the elves let out a low whistle. The beautiful horses came trotting into view and I let out a gasp as on the rump of a black and white horse was my blanket and coat. I slowly walked up to the horse reaching out to touch the blanket "You found my quilt…"

Legolas walked up and smiled "Yeah we found the blanket and followed your trail then found you."

I wanted to be upset about leaving a trail but part of me was really happy because if I had been more careful I might not have been found. "Great, I really hated leaving that blanket behind, it has sentimental value"

Legolas gave me a puzzled look but finally nodded "You can ride with me, this is Vanmoriel."

I walked up to the beautiful mare and reached out letting her sniff my hand then I softly rubbed her velvety nose "What does her name mean?"

He was rubbing her neck while I got to know her "Her name means Dark Beauty, she was named by a really good friend of mine"

I smiled up at him but one of the other elves made a disgruntled noise and Legolas helped me onto Vanmoriel's back before getting on her himself. It was only moments before they took off and I grabbed onto a handful of Vanmoriel's mane and held on for dear life. I had taken some basic riding lesions when I was young but we never really got into riding bare back or riding at a run through a forest. Apparently I was projecting my nervousness because Legolas wrapped an arm around my waist "Just relax, Vanmoriel won't let you fall off and neither will I"

I nodded and took a few deep breaths before letting myself trust the elf and the horse. It didn't take me very long to become comfortable with the pace and soon I was enjoying the strange landscape. In Indiana we didn't have dense forests only sporadic trees and lots of fields. I was amazed at how easily the three horses were maneuvering around the many trees and vines. We rode for what felt like hours and soon I felt myself slumping into the warmth that Legolas provided. Just before I slipped off to the land of nod I felt Legolas' arm tighten around my waist.

AN

I hope you liked this chapter. I know it is similar to once in a blue moon but soon the differences should start showing up… though please do remember this is an Alternate Universe from once in a blue moon.


	2. Chapter 2

AN/

Well how do you guys like it so far? I'm not a little growly snot that I was when I started writing OIABM so this not only shows how I've matured in my writing but as a person. Read, review and enjoy.

Once on a blue moon

Chapter two

I've always been a heavy sleeper, one time I slept through a storm that uprooted a tree only twenty feet from my bedroom window. But for some reason it was the softest sounds that drew me from the thick clouds that surrounded my sleeping mind. This time it was the sound of a horse pawing at hard packed dirt and stones. The soft clicking sound it made just before the horse snorted drew me from my sleep and when I opened my eyes I was surprised to see not just a dense forest cover but what looked like a city woven into the thinned out foliage.

Groaning I went to stretch only to whack what had been supporting me in my sleep. The poor elf yelped and rubbed his sore shoulder as I blushed from embarrassment. I had accidently hit Legolas rather hard in the shoulder with my elbow. "I'm sorry!"

He laughed it off as he rubbed his shoulder then slid gracefully off Vanmoriel's back then held up his good arm to help me down. I slid down right into his arms I quickly moved back bumping into Vanmoriel's side and she snorted at me. Legolas chuckled and then took a few steps back "The others already left, they figured I could handle myself if you decided to cause any trouble. They also said that you were my responsibility since they wanted to leave you for all the creepy crawlies to find."

I snorted shaking my head "I probably don't taste good to creepy crawlies and anything on two legs would get a big surprise if they tried anything… I might be small but I'm a vicious little thing"

Legolas seemed to think I was joking because he laughed. I glared at him then poked him in the chest "Don't laugh, I'm tougher than I look… you guys just caught me off guard."

Legolas gave me a yeah right look and turned "Pardon me if I don't believe you. An Orc can take down even a well trained grown adult male with a barrage of weapons. Unless you are hiding a weapon in those little pouches attached to your pants I don't see you surviving very long"

I growled and reached down pulling out my pocket knife, when I opened it the blade was four inchs long. Legolas was startled to see the blade but after a moment of looking it over he snorted "Though I'm amazed that you were hiding this in one of your pockets it is cheaply made and probably would not last very long. Come along I need to get to a meeting with Lord Elrond you can come with me and we'll see about acquiring you an escort back to your village."

I nodded and he turned to lead the way to Lord Elrond, once his back was turned I started to chew on my lower lip, a nervous habit that I had acquired in my youth. What was I going to tell Elrond, that I come from another world where this world was just a book or a movie? Perhaps I could say I don't remember the village I was from… but that wouldn't explain my strange attire. With the threat of the ring he probably won't accept anything but the truth. Perhaps a diluted version, just tell him that I'm from another world, don't know how I got here and have no clue how to get back. So far I don't believe I've given away that I know anyone here. Perhaps Gandalf could help me find a way home. The path to Elrond's library was beautiful. There were flowers everywhere and the architecture was beautiful everything looks so flawless. Everything was so open it almost felt like you were outdoors even when you are inside. The airy design made it feel even cooler than the outdoors though.

We finally came to a large door with ordinate carvings on it. The detail almost took my breath away. Legolas knocked on the door and even though I didn't hear anything he opened the door and proceeded to walk in. I stood waiting for a moment before following him in, I was expecting only Legolas and Elrond but instead there were four people. It was easy to tell Gandalf in the crowd he was a tall old man in light gray robes with ice blue eyes that seem to see through your soul. A beautiful man with long brown hair and silver eyes with a small diadem perched on his head was easily recognizable as Lord Elrond. I already knew Legolas so I turned to figuring out who the fourth member of the group was. He looked really scruffy and looked in need of a good hot shower, a brush and a good haircut. If I took an educated guess I would say Aragorn because of the scruff, dirt and dark clothing. It appeared that I had interrupted something because everyone was staring at me.

I blushed and started to back out of the room "I'm sorry if I am interrupting. I can come back later"

Lord Elrond looked curious about who I was but Gandalf just smiled and walked towards me "Nonsense child we needed a break from our discussion, I do not believe that Lord Elrond nor I know you, perhaps you could introduce yourself and tell us what brings you here"

I looked to Legolas for a moment and he gave me an encouraging nod… great, that's oh so helpful, he could of at least helped with the introduction… but no idiot elfboy wants to let me do all the talking… taking a deep calming breath I drew on my 6 years of leadership experience as well as my four years of college and speaking experience, the words 'they are just another audience' kept repeating in my head, it was my mantra.

"I'm Alana Wood and what brings me here is the fact that I need help getting home. Legolas ran across me in the forest and said Lord Elrond might be able to help me get home, though I don't believe he understands the extent of that request. I actually don't know how I'm going to get home, I don't live anywhere near here and it isn't a simple boat or horse ride to my home"

Now everyone was watching me with a curious look, even Legolas seemed curious as to what I had to say. This time it was Lord Elrond who spoke "what do you mean miss Wood how far away do you live and how did you get here"

I shrugged my shoulders and slumped a little, I was getting to the part I didn't understand how to explain "I really don't know how to explain that… I mean one minute I was sitting on the hood of my car watching the blue moon in the middle of the night, the next minute I was sitting out in the middle of the forest. If I have to take a guess I would say I'm from another realm or the future or a parallel universe… I really don't know for sure, all I know is that I'm not from here… anywhere here"

The silence seemed to last forever before Gandalf made a humming noise "How very interesting my dear, although I don't know what a car or its hood is but the concept that you come from another world is intriguing. It would explain your rather unique clothing choice and your accent."

I blushed and nodded "Yeah, well this isn't a typical outfit from my home… this is actually what our military wears, its really old and comfortable so I tend to wear it at night."

The all nodded and the elves seemed to recognize the usefulness of the camo pattern in the pants. "To my knowledge I don't know of any way to pass between realms, perhaps one of the many elders might have heard something. For now you can stay in my home"

I smiled and gave a slight bow "Thank you Lord Elrond I appreciate your hospitality"

He smiled and I blushed "Thank you for your time Lord Elrond… Um I would thank you as well but I didn't catch your name"

Gandalf laughed and the sound filled the large room like a warm summer breeze "I am sorry my dear, we were all being so rude asking for you to introduce yourself yet not giving you the same courtesy. I am Gandalf the Grey, of course you guessed that he is Lord Elrond. You already know Legolas and the silent man sitting in the corner is Aragorn"

I smiled at each of them "It is a pleasure meeting you Gandalf, and I would say the same to you Aragorn but you haven't said a word"

I heard a low chuckle from him but he still didn't say anything. "Perhaps I should leave so you can resume your conversation, my problem will not get resolved today. If you could point me towards somewhere I can get a bite to eat I would really appreciate it, I'm really hungry"

Gandalf chuckled and approached me "Of course my dear I'll escort you to the kitchens while Legolas talks to Lord Elrond, perhaps Aragorn would accompany us it is about lunchtime and unlike the elves we require periodic times to rest especially an old man such as myself"

I laughed shaking my head at Gandalf going on about how old he is. I looked over at Aragorn and smiled "Perhaps you might venture to say a word or two to me"

Aragorn just grunted but Gandalf and Legolas started laughing. Gandalf placed a warm hand between my shoulder blades and lead me out the door, Aragorn followed just a few steps behind us. We walked down a long corridor but this time Gandalf filled the silence with questions. "So explain what a car is and its hood, I am rather curious as to what could be large enough for you to lie on and watch the stars."

I chewed on my lower lip for a second trying to decide how to explain what a car is to these medieval people. "Well… hum… it's a large metal contraption that people ride in like a carriage that is self propelled. The hood is what covers the engine it just a large metal sheet. It is hard to fully explain it, I just drive one, if it broke down I would not know anything more about it then how to change one of the wheels"

Gandalf hummed a few times nodding "A strange concept this car… I have a hard time imagining this thing, perhaps you can draw us a picture sometime."

I brightened at the idea of getting to draw again, I loved drawing things though typically I'm not as good at drawing things without a reference but it would still be fun to get the chance to draw here, maybe I could get enough paper to sketch out the scenery. "That would be great Gandalf I love drawing, I don't get a lot of time to do it at home any more, I am always so busy going to school or looking for a job."

Aragon had crept closer sometime while I was talking about the car "You attend school? You seem to old to be still in school"

I smiled at him laughing slightly "Yes I'm twenty three, I attend College… um…. College is where you learn how to do your job like a doctor… um… healer. People don't do apprenticeships any more we go to college to learn our trades and skills"

He nodded appearing to understand "So what trade are you training for?"

I sighed "Nothing in particular, I am undecided. I just take general classes, math, sciences, art… I haven't found a trade that really fits my interests."

Gandalf patted my shoulder in comfort apparently hearing the disappointment in my voice. Aragorn smiled "What are your interests?"

I smiled "Languages, Arts, Combat, Weapons, Animals… things like that, it's a bit sporadic to find a job that would encompass a few of those task, my time is ruled by businesses not much outdoors things. I could join the military but up until recently I had obligations that kept me at home"

Aragorn nodded "What kind of weapons and combat training do you have?"

I smiled "None that you would probably know here, it is mostly hand to hand combat and I know how to use a Bow and a Bo one you know the bows and arrows the other is a long wooden stick."

Aragorn seemed a bit confused but he nodded anyways "its like fighting with a staff but the stick is thinner then most walking staffs. I want to learn how to use a sword but there hasn't been an opening in the more advanced weapons class yet."

Gandalf smiled "I am a master at staff fighting and Legolas is very skilled with a bow. Perhaps while you are here we can keep your skills from dulling, it would be interesting to practice with someone who has learned a different form of the same fighting."

I smiled and nodded to Gandalf I had been working with a Bo for almost 8 years and even though I'm really skilled with it someone Gandalf's age would easily give me a run for my money. And to get tips on my archery from Legolas would be awesome, I actually only picked up that hobby about two years ago and it really is only a hobby.

Aragon cleared his throat and I turned to him "If you wish I could give you some lessons with the sword, in our world if you get to hand to hand combat you will not survive and a staff or Bo as you call it could be a bit difficult to carry around all the time"

I smiled at the grungy man who I knew would be a king one day and he was offering to give me sword fighting lessons. It would be a great way to kill some time until I found a way home "I would appreciate that Aragorn. Thank you"

He nodded and we soon came upon the kitchens, my stomach gave a loud rumble of appreciation when I smelled the wonderful food that a few elvin cooks were making. Aragorn said a few words in the strange language to the cooks and soon they were placing three plates filled with food on a small table. "What language are you speaking? It sounds beautiful"

"Sindarin, it is the elves language, perhaps we can add a few language lessons into your training, if you are going to reside here for any length of time it might be useful"

I perked up and nodded "That would be wonderful thank you, I hope I'm not here too long but language and sword fighting lessons would be wonderful ways to pass the time that I am here"

We finished eating quickly and Gandalf got up brushing some crumbs from his beard. "I need to get back to council with Lord Elrond. Perhaps Aragorn can introduce you to Arwen before returning to the council. We have much to plan for the upcoming meeting."

I felt short standing by this man he had to be at least 6ft 6inchs to my 5ft 4inchs. I had to nearly run to keep up with him and I wondered how the poor hobbits had kept up with him, I could easily see why he would be called Strider. He seemed to realize my short stature after a few moments and slowed down so I only had to power walk to keep up with him. Good thing I had taken some exercise classes in college I was now fit enough to keep up a decent power walk for hours if needs be. "So who is Arwen?"

Aragorn steps stuttered for a brief second and I caught his eye for a second and I could see how dear Arwen was to him "She is Lord Elrond's daughter, an elf maiden who will be very helpful in getting you settled in"

I chuckled softly and shook my head "I would probably be more comfortable with a male elf than a female, I've never been overly feminine. I don't wear dresses and I would rather wrestle in the mud with a few males than sit and gossip in a dress"

He chuckled and nodded "I'll make sure Arwen knows, I'll also tell her about the weapons training so she will know to find you suitable clothing."

I smiled thanking him. Soon we came to a beautiful garden and I saw a woman sitting among the flowers. She must have heard our entry because she turned and smiled warmly "Hello Estel I hope you are doing well? And who is this unique young woman that accompanies you"

Aragorn quickly introduced us and in Sindarin explained about me, where I came from and my preferences in clothing and companions. After they said a few more things Aragorn turned quickly saying goodbye to me then leaving to return to the council. I sighed turning to Arwen and nodded "Hello Arwen I'm Alana it is a pleasure to meet you"

She nodded and smiled "I am unfamiliar with the name Alana what is its meaning?"

I knew that my name had multiple meanings and that was why my mother named me what she had "It has multiple meanings depending on what language you base it off of. Its gaelic meaning is Little Rock but its Hawaiian meaning is Awakening. I was born in Hawaii but am of Gaelic decent so the name worked for both."

She smiled and nodded "The name seems to fit you well in our language you would be called either Pîngond which means little rock or Echui which means Awakening"

I smile and nod "Both are beautiful names though I'm more partial to Echui, Pîngond is a bit of a mouthful"

Arwen laughed and nodded "Well if you are going to learn Sindarin we should refer to you as Echui when speaking. But perhaps that should be saved for later, I met you are tired and would enjoy a hot bath and a change of clothing before we gather for dinner"

I smiled and followed Arwen down another hallway and she opened another beautifully carved door, the bedroom was again integrated with the outdoors. A large open balcony was only a few feet away from the large bed, there was a wardrob and a small table with a mirror sitting in a corner. Arwen left me in the room to explore while she went to get someone to bring me a bath, heated water, soaps and a dress to change into. Though I wasn't happy about the dress she told me that she would find some breeches, shirts and boots in my size as soon as she could as long as during the evening meal I would wear a dress. I reluctantly agreed but was happy that I would only have to wear the dresses for a short time before bed.

I quickly washed the grime of the past day off of my skin and quickly washed my hair before getting out of the cooling bath water. Just as I was pulling the beautiful sky blue dress over my head there was a knock on my door. I called for the person to enter and Arwen and three other elvin maidens came in carrying piles of clothing. There were beautiful dresses and soft slippers for evening meals but what caught my attention were the soft leather boots, breaches and shirts. There were about six sets of each in various shades of browns though they had apparently found some light blue tunics for me to wear. I had only briefly mentioned that blue was my favorite color but apparently Arwen had remembered.

The three elves put the close away as Arwen sat me down in front of the mirror and helped me to pull up my hair in the same fashion that the other elf females were wearing. "You look beautiful Echui, come Aragorn and Legolas are going to escort us to the evening meal, I think they will be amazed at how nice you look when not wearing your strange clothing from your world."

I laughed and nodded following her out into the hallway, though no matter what clothing I dressed in I will never hold a candle to all the beautiful elf maidens that were surrounding me. I was shocked to see how nicely Aragorn had cleaned up, apparently he had taken my mental advice because his hair had been trimmed up and was pulled back in a low tail at the base of his neck. He had bathed and had put on clean clothing. Even Legolas had changed and was in a very elegant outfit and had his own diadem on to show that he was a prince of Mirkwood, though I wasn't supposed to know that so I didn't mention my knowledge "Well look at you both, you clean up nicely Aragorn, and Legolas I think you look better in your riding clothing this uptight look is a bit off with your nicely tanned skin"

Aragorn laughed while I noticed a slight blush on Legolas' cheeks "You clean up nicely yourself Alana, it was hard to imagine you as a female in your strange breaches and tunic"

I snort "Get use to it, Arwen found me plenty of breaches and tunics, you'll only have the pleasure of seeing me in a dress during the evening meal"

Legolas smiled and offered me his arm, I looked over noticing that Arwen and Aragorn had already started towards the dinning hall arm in arm. I sighed and took his arm. Arwen looked over her shoulder smiling "Hurry up Echui, don't dawdle to long poking fun at Legolas"

Aragorn and Legolas got puzzled looks on their faces at the name but it was Legolas who asked the question "Why did she call you Echui?"

I chuckled softly "She asked me what my name meant, Alana means both Awakening, Echui and little rock Pîngond I preferred the sound of Echui."

Legolas smiled and nodded "Both names seem to fit you from what we know of you. Gandalf said that he was going to practice staff fighting with you and also said that you knew archery, apparently I was volunteered to practice the bow with you, though I don't mind I was surprised that you knew how to use a bow and arrow after calling Daugion's arrow a sharp pointy stick"

I laughed and nodded "bit of an inside joke between me and an old friend."

He smiled and nodded "Perhaps we can get together tomorrow morning to see how advanced your archery is."

I nod "I only took up the bow about two years ago and I'm not use to the longbow. We have things called Compound bows they are about half the size of a long bow and use a lever system using cables and pulley to increase the power for faster delivery."

He seemed intrigued by the idea "Perhaps you could draw a picture of this compound bow like Gandalf said you would of the car, maybe we can recreate it for you but until then I'll help you learn how to use a longbow"

I quickly thanked him because we had just approached the large room being used as a dinning hall. There were so many people there, people of all races. I could easily pick out the dwarfs, they had secluded themselves in one corner. The elves were mingling with everyone but the dwarves. Humans were sticking together barely talking to anyone else. And of course the hobbits were already drinking and gawking at the elves. I only counted four. An elderly hobbit I easly took as Bilbo was quietly watching the proceedings, two lively hobbits were drinking and talking to everyone who came within earshot while the forth was quietly sitting staring at his drink with sadness in his eyes and kept looking towards the door, it was easy to tell he would rather be sitting at Frodo's side.

I could hear a few Elves calling for Legolas so I smiled and released his arm "I will see you later Legolas, go talk to your friends. Thank you for escorting me to the dinning hall"

He smiled and bowed before walking over to his friends. I looked around the room my eyes settling on Aragorn who was busy talking to Lord Elrond, I finally decided to sit beside the hobbits. The human men were eyeing me and I refused to sit and be eye candy to a bunch of medieval slobs. So I sat down next to Sam and smiled at the young hobbit "Why the long face, I thought you were a hobbit not a horse"

Sam looked up and I got a half smile from him, if he hadn't been so upset he probably would have laughed. "I'm worried for a friend of mine M'lady"

I nod and sigh "I'm sure he will be fine soon, you should really eat something instead of picking at your plate day in and day out. I thought hobbits ate multiple meals a day, more so then a human or an elf"

Sam nodded and seemed to see me for the first time "And what are you, you are pretty enough to be an elf but all the elves I have seen are much taller than you."

I snorted and shook my head "I'm just a human, but thank you for the complement. I'm Alana Wood 100 percent human thank you very much and I'm not short… just vertically challenged"

This time I did get a laugh from the sad hobbit. "I'm Samwise Gamgee and it's a pleasure to meet you Lady Alana"

I shook my head poking him on the nose "Just Alana Sam, I'm just a normal person just like you"

Sam nodded and started eating I looked up to see Lord Elrond giving me an approving nod. The two hyper hobbits came stumbling over, when they were about to interrupt Sam's eating I grabbed each of them and smiled "And who are you two lovely hobbit gentlemen"

Pippin and Merry quickly introduced themselves and started to tell me of their adventure to Rivendell from the shire and I avidly listened, the movies had left a lot out. Soon the dinner was over and Lord Elrond stood up. "Welcome to Rivendell, this is the first time in many years that representatives from the dwarves, hobbits and humans have convened on my home. We will be holding a council in four days to decide the fate of the ring, until then please rest and enjoy the hospitality of elves."

I knew that the council would be held soon but in four days, amazingly I should be here. I would probably never be invited but it was still intriguing to be here when it was convened. Soon the guests were trickling out I stayed until my eyes started to droop and I finally got up walking towards the direction that I believed my room was. After twenty minutes of wandering I was good and lost. I sat down closing my eyes trying to remember which way I came and where my room was. I was startled to feel a hand resting on my shoulder and my eyes popped open to find Legolas knelt in front of me. "Are you alright Echui?"

I smiled sleepily at him nodding "I just got lost this place is huge"

He smiled and stood up offering a hand to help me up. "Come on I'll show you where your room is, then you can get some sleep."

I actually hadn't been to far from my room only a few hallways away so when we arrived at my room I smiled gratefully at the elf prince. "Thank you Legolas, I'll see you in the morning for my archery practice"

He nodded then bowed slightly before turning and walking down the hall towards where I guessed his room was. I quickly entered my room, shedding the beautiful dress and falling into the soft bed falling asleep only seconds after my head hit the pillow.

AN Alright please read and review and tell me if you like it. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

AN/ Well I'm on a roll, trying to write 2000 words plus a day… which is ABOUT a chapter…. So hopefully I'll stick with it and we'll see about a chapter update a day. I'm also going to try to read the trilogy again, it has been YEARS since I read the books *when I started writing the first blue moon story* so I'm rusty on my facts. Please read and review… reviews motivate me to write my 2000+ words a day without them my writing starves and withers away. I'm also wanting to say that since I am reading the books I am trying my hardest to follow the book though I might put some movie verse into this either by a slipup or because I liked the scene better.

Once on a blue moon

Chapter 3

Morning came to soon and for the first time I wasn't appreciating the open design of my bedroom, the sun shown directly in my face and no matter how I twisted or turned in the bed I couldn't get away from the light. I was never much of a morning person, typically sleeping until 9 or 10am. But I groaned and crawled out of the comfortable bed. The sun was newly up so it couldn't be much later then 6 to 630am. I had also discovered that instead of January it was currently October so either I lost four months of my life or gained eight. It was warmer than Indiana so it had to be closer to the equator too, because it had to be around mid seventies even though in Indiana it would be around fifty or sixty.

I stumbled over to the wardrobe and pulled out one of the light blue tunics, black breeches and a pair of soft black boots. It didn't take more than a few minutes to get dressed and pull my hair back in a high ponytail. I left two strands of hair hanging in my face. I looked into the mirror to observe how different I looked in the elven outfit. Blue and black were two colors that I loved wearing. The colores made my tan skin look even darker. I was only 1/16th Cherokee but I had inherited the darker skin that tanned quickly and easily. I had dark blond hair and light blue eyes, which I received from my Gaelic ancestry. I wasn't very thin, I had a lot of Viking in me as well giving me a bit of a short and stout appearance, but lately I had been slimming down and getting into better shape. I could still afford to lose 20 to 40 pounds and I wouldn't mind losing it either but I was also happy with the way I looked so I didn't really mind it either.

I quickly turned from my reflection and ran out of the room I ran towards one of the many doors that lead outside, it didn't take me more than a few short seconds to find an elf that could point me in the direction of the archery range. I knew that Legolas would be there and waiting on me. That was one fact I remembered from the movies, that elves rarely slept and when they did it was only for a few short hours. When I got there I was correct, Legolas was there and by the looks of the target he had been there for a while already. I slowed down smiling "Morning Legolas!"

He slowly lowered his bow and turned to me with a grin on his face "Hello Echui! I have talked to one of Rivendell's best bow makers. He was intrigued by the idea of using pullies and a lever system so he agreed to get with you sometime today to work on a design. Until then I will see how well you can do with a long bow"

He reached over and picked up a smaller version of his longbow. It seemed more feminine and delicate. I wanted to growl at the slight but decided that he might have done that not because he thought less of me but because I had told him I was use to a smaller compound bow. I reached out taking the bow and examining it. I wasn't use to the singular string or the supple wooden feel of the old style bow. "Wow this bow is beautiful, who does it belong to? It looks worn but not overly so. It is to well crafted to be a loner bow for the range."

He smiled and nodded "It was the bow Aragorn used when he was a young boy. He quickly outgrew it but he kept it and decided to give it to you as a gift."

I smiled and decided I would have to thank Aragorn later, for the bow was beautiful. I quickly approached what appeared to be my target and Legolas handed me an arrow and a set of soft leather armguards so I wouldn't tear up my arms. I slipped into my stance and Legolas reached out adjusting my elbow and one of my feet before nodding and stepping back. I released the string and my arrow soared through the air hitting the target only a hair away from the bulls eye. Legolas smiled proudly and I let out a whoop of excitement. The bow was perfect, and even with a longbow I still could get just as close to the target as I could with a compound bow. "Great job Echui, with a little more practice you could hit the bulls eye perfectly."

Legolas handed me a quiver full of arrows and I sent six more arrows down into the target only one of them was more than a hairs breath from the bulls eye and that one was only about a quarter of an inch further out. Legolas smiled and patted me on the shoulder "You are a great archer for a mortal. You could give some elves a challenge with a bit more practice."

I laughed shaking my head "Probably not, I have bad eyes, I wear these special things called contacts in my eyes that help me see, but they can only be worn for about a month before they go bad. Sadly when they stop working I'll either have to find someone who can make glasses or go around only seeing blurry things."

Legolas frowned seeming to think "Were you born with poor eyesight or did something happen to give you bad eyesight?"

I shook my head "I was born with it, they call it astigmatism it is where something in my eye isn't shaped correctly"

Legolas nodded and smiled "We should talk to Lord Elrond, I know he has trouble fixing old healed wounds but maybe he can fix your eyes too"

I smiled and nodded "It is worth a shot, if he can't fix them then I'll just get use to not being able to see. People can live fine without eyesight. I just won't be able to hit the broadside of a barn with an arrow any more. Luckily I can see close up still so I could still fight with a staff and sword"

Legolas frowned and shook his head "Lord Elrond will be going in about an hour to see to Frodo so we should talk to him now about your eyes."

A young elf had retrieved our arrows while we were talking and after quickly thanking him Legolas and I made our way back to the beautiful room that I had met everyone in the day before. The door was easily opened and this time I followed right at Legolas' heals. Lord Elrond was alone and reading a book. Legolas quickly spoke in Sindarin and Lord Elrond looked over at me. "Come here Alana let me have a look at your eyes"

I walked forward and stood before him, he reached out tilting my head this way and that, then lifting one eyelid then the other. "Can you take out the thing that is helping to adjust your eyesight?"

I nodded and quickly removing my contacts keeping them separated just incase I had to put them back in. He again reached up lifting my eyelids "Elves are healers. We heal the land and many other things. Rarely have I tried healing mortals but something tells me that I should do this for you."

He seemed to mentally agree on something then he got up leaving the room. I turned towards the blurry mass that was Legolas and raised an eyebrow "Didn't he just say he was going to help me?"

Legolas nodded then seemed to think better of it "yes, he must need to retrieve something. Just be patient Echui"

I sighed and nodded. Nearly thirty minutes later Lord Elrond returned and I didn't notice anything in his hands. I continued to wait for him to explain his absence but instead he just reached up to my eyes. Only when his hand was inchs from my face did I notice that he was wearing a ring. It was beautiful, it was a thick well made band of silver with a beautiful elfstone perched in the center. I heard Legolas' gasp and it confirmed my suspicions. Lord Elrond had retrieved one of the three elven great rings to aid with my healing. He told me to keep my eyes open and then he placed his ringed hand over my eyes. He started to speak in Sindarin and then I felt a warmth coming from his hand into my eyes. It got warmer and warmer until it was almost impossible to stand. When I felt like screaming and pulling away the heat vanished and Lord Elrond removed his hand. I had to blink a few times before my eyes quickly focused and I noticed I could see without my contacts in.

Actually I could see better than ever before. "Wow, this is amazing! Thank you so much Lord Elrond"

I turned and hugged him quickly then ran over and hugged Legolas "Thank you both! This is such a wonderful gift, I can never repay you. Either of you"

Lord Elrond smiled and nodded "Do not worry about it Alana I believe that one day you will find a way"

I nodded then smiled "I need to get some breakfast then I'm supposed to meet Gandalf out near the archery fields to work on my staff fighting. Would you like to join me Legolas?"

He agreed and we walked towards the kitchens, I was quickly learning how to navigate the palace. We quickly got a bite to eat then made our way out to the area where Gandalf was waiting. He was holding a small staff that I guessed he had found for me and he warmly greeted us. "Hello my dear, hello Legolas how are you doing this morning?"

I beamed and jumped around like a child "Lord Elrond healed my eyesight! I can see perfectly now… better then ever!"

Gandalf laughed and reached out patting me on the shoulder trying to calm me down "That is wonderful my dear, and a very rare gift for Lord Elrond to heal someone that isn't dying. Cherish the gift and use it well. Now then let us see how well versed you are in staff fighting"

He held out the shorter, thinner staff and I took it testing the balance and strength. It was well made though a bit shorter than I was use to. My bo was a foot taller than me but this staff was the same height as I am. It was also thicker than what I was use to, but it would work well. It was well balanced and very durable. "This will do well until I can make one or have someone make me one."

He nodded than motioned for me to start the fight. I slipped into my stance and soon the fight had started. It didn't take much to guess that Gandalf was holding back and that just made me fight harder… and smarter. We fought for almost an hour and in that whole time I only hit Gandalf twice, but the good news was that he only hit me seven and halfway through the spar he had actually stopped going overly easy on me and took the fight seriously, though he still didn't go all out.

I collapsed on the ground panting and weezing but Gandalf only stood there breathing a bit heavier than normal. "You are a skilled fighter Alana, great job, though your endurance needs a bit of work but I have a feeling we'll have time to work on that."

I nodded and fell back so I could look back at Legolas who had stuck around to watch the fight. He seemed to be intrigued by how well I held out and I smirked at him. "I… Told… you…. That… I could… Hold… My own…"

He smirked and nodded "I am sorry for doubting you Echui, but in the forest you didn't have a bo to fight with"

I took a deep breath and laughed "That is the best thing about learning to use a bo… you can pick up a stick and use it the same way"

He nodded and came over offering me a hand up "Come on, lets go for a walk, lying around will only make your muscles stiffer"

I took his hand and he easily pulled me up from the ground, it was strange feeling calluses on the palm of an elf. They seem so unchanging and perfect, to have calluses just seemed so odd in my mind. I was almost reluctant to release his hand, holding his hand forced me to believe that this was all real, that not only was I here but the people were real too. I quickly let go of his hand but I saw a brief flash of something pass over his face telling me that he noticed my moment of reluctance.

I turned and bowed to Gandalf "Thank you for the spar Gandalf, I really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to help me grow in my skills"

He gave me a smile that reminded me of my grandfather and it made me want to run up to him and give him a hug. Instead I turned and started to walk slowly away from the practice grounds towards what appeared to be a stable. "Could we go see the horses? I love horses, I use to beg my mother to get me a horse or to let me take more lessons in riding but she refused."

He nodded and proceeded to lead me away from the stables and towards a large field just to the left of them. When we got to a place with a post and water troth he let out a piercing whistle and waited. The field was open with no fences but I could see many horses grazing in the clearing. Only moments later I saw a horse making its way out of the crowd and from its black coloring I guessed it to be Vanmoriel. She approached and nickered shoving her nose against Legolas' chest for a moment before turning and doing the same motion to me. She nearly knocked me flat on my ass but a strong hand quickly came between my shoulder blades to help balance me. I turned smiling slightly at Legolas in thanks then reached up running my hand up her jaw and down her neck "Hello Vanmoriel, I am sorry but I don't have any treats for you. Perhaps next time I'll remember and bring you a nice apple or if I can find one a sugar cube"

She tossed her head as if agreeing and Legolas laughed reaching out and scratching her between the ears. Though not as tall as Aragorn, Legolas was still almost a foot taller than me standing at least 6ft if not 6ft 2inch. I would have had to stand on my tiptoes to reach Vanmoriel's ears right now but he didn't even have to strain. I sighed and continued to love on the beautiful horse. "You said a friend named her and she seems very comfortable here. Is your friend one of the elves that live in Rivendell?"

He laughed shaking his head "Yes and no… Aragorn named Vanmoriel so yes he lives here but no he is not one of the elves"

I chuckled and shook my head "That man is a mystery to me, he seems so comfortable here but he is human. I doubt I'll ever get his full story out of him but I believe it is going to be fun trying."

Legolas burst into laughter but nodded in agreement "I've known him almost all of his life and I still don't think I know everything, good luck with that quest."

I smiled and rested my forehead against Vanmoriel's "I don't think anyone is going to find a way to send me home Legolas, even I don't know how I got here and to tell you the truth I don't know if I even want to return. It is true I'll miss my best friend Bella but this place is so beautiful and so much more interesting then my home world. Perhaps I can just learn how to survive here, then I'll have my whole life to get to know Aragorn and you and anyone else I can meet here"

Legolas didn't say anything for a few minutes but I soon felt a hand on my shoulder "It is up to you whether you stay or go, for some reason you were brought to this world and I know that Lord Elrond and many of the others will welcome you with open arms if you wish to stay"

I looked over at him smiling "Thank you Legolas, I appreciate it. Now… let us see if I can track down a horse and perhaps we can go for a short ride. I am hungry but lunch is still about two hours away."

Legolas seemed to think for a second before nodding "How about we see if the kitchen staff could pack us a lunch and then we can go for a ride and a picnic. As for what horse you can ride I think Vanmoriel has chosen you to be her rider today. I have another horse stabled here he was a gift from Lord Elrond a few years ago and it has been a while since I was here to take him out for a ride."

It didn't take long for Legolas to get some food and both of the horses ready for the ride. Though many elves preferred to ride bareback they did have a few saddles and Vanmoriel was quickly saddled and ready for me to ride. I let Legolas take the lead and he quickly took off into the shallows of the forest, apparently Vanmoriel knew where we were going because soon she had quickened her pace and was vying for the lead. Soon we were racing and I barely noticed the scenery only the exhilaration of the ride and the echoing laughter that both of us were joining in on. Soon the horses slowed and I looked up to see a beautiful waterfall. "Oh my, I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful."

Legolas was quiet and after a moment quickly dismounted his horse Alagos, his name meaning storm, and came over to help me get down from Vanmoriel. Both of the horses wandered a few yards away and started nibbling at the lush grass of the area as Legolas set down the bag that held fruits and bread as well as some unnamed meat and elf wine. We ate quietly then Legolas decided to tell me a story about the waterfall. Soon the sun had reached high in the sky and I knew I needed to get back for my first sword fighting lesson with Aragorn. Though I was reluctant to leave the beautiful waterfall I knew I would love to learn how to use a sword and apparently no one was a better teacher than Aragorn.

With a little help I remounted Vanmoriel and we took off back towards the stables. The ride back was more subdued and I got to appreciate the beauty of the forests of Rivendell. I looked over at Legolas to find him watching me and I blushed "what?"

He looked away quickly and seemed to frown "It is strange to see someone so amazed at forests, I mean yes Rivendell is beautiful but it almost appears as if you've never seen a forest before."

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders "That's because I haven't. Where I live has no forests only small patches of trees, I live in a very flat land that has very fertile soil so most of the trees have been removed and crops have been planted in their places. I love our little patches of trees, I grew up with a backyard full of trees but I've never seen a waterfall up close nor have I seen so many trees in my life, it's a beautiful sight.

He shook his head and seemed really sad "I would hate to live in your world. A world without forests and trees is a sad place indeed. We will have to make our rides an often occurrence to make up for your lifetime without forests."

I gave him a grateful smile before nudging Vanmoriel to a quicker pace and urging her back to the stables. Once we arrived I saw Aragorn waiting by the stables looking amused but impatient. Legolas waved at his friend then looked at me "I'll take the horses and get them cooled off, you have a sword lesson to attend and appear to be late."

I quickly thanked him and slid off Vanmoriel's back softly stroking her neck and nose before running over to Aragorn "Sorry I'm late I got distracted by the beauty of Rivendell. It won't happen again"

Aragorn just smiled and lead me over to the same practice field that I had sparred with Gandalf earlier. When we got there he withdrew a rather worn out blade that had no sharp point but was still made out of metal. He handed me one that was smaller then showed me his stance. Though different from the bow I attempted to settle in a similar stance. Aragorn circled me moving my hands so they sat better on the sword then kicked my feet into a wider stance. "With a heavier weapon you need a steadier stance"

Soon he was showing me some drills, though different from the bo my practice with the long weapon helped me to quickly learn the drills and by the end of the day we were doing a quick mock fight. It was dinner time and I was about to fall over dead on my feet but Aragorn insisted that I return to my room and change. He said it would be rude to not attend dinner after Lord Elrond healed my eyes that day so I drug my weary body to my room. There was a small bowl with warm water and soap so I quickly rinsed my body from the acquired sweat from the day then put on a simple yet beautiful green dress. I had no idea how the elven maids had done my hair the night before so I put it up in a simple twist then made my way back to the dinning hall.

Tonight there weren't as many people attending mostly just the elves and a few dwarfs, apparently the humans had decided to eat on their own. I looked for Sam again but apparently he was still with Frodo so I was lost as to where I would sit for the night. Luckily Gandalf saw me come in and motioned for me to sit between him and Legolas. Aragorn was sitting on the other side of Legolas so at least I knew the people who were sitting around me.

As I sat down Legolas gave me an inquiring look and I gave him an exhausted smile. He in turn gave me a sympathetic nod then proceeded to eat. I looked at the food and though my stomach was roaring the cramps in my muscles were cramping too tightly around my stomach to let me even want to eat. I asked for water instead of wine and slowly drank nearly six cups while only nibbling on some fruits and bread. Soon I started to fall asleep in my food so Gandalf asked for two elf maidens to help me to my chambers. I readily agreed and stumbled down the long hallways to my room. Only when I was tucked into bed did I realize that I hadn't said goodnight to anyone. It was a moot point when seconds later I was fast asleep exhausted from my busy day.

AN Alright READ ME! Almost 60 people read my first chapter and almost 20 have read the second yet I have NO REVIEWS! I have PLENTY of stories to be updating… I really shouldn't be starting a new story… so REVIEW… even a simple "good story please update" would suffice… I need to know if you want me to continue this story or to just scrap it… so REVIEW OR ELSE!


	4. Chapter 4

AN/ THANKYOU for the reviews! This chapter is dedicated to my two reviewers Druchii and the person who left an anonymous review… you know who you are… I really appreciate you taking a few moments to tell me you like the story. And thank you Druchii for reading the first Blue Moon story and then taking the time to read the alternate version that you are all now reading! I now have 23 more readers and I hope they stick around because I've got a lot of free time to kill and I'm on a roll for updates so keep your eyes open. Here is the newest chapter to Once On A Blue Moon.

AN2 THANKYOU for the reviews! As I'm writing this update I've gotten 2 more reviews! From my foreign reviewer (At least I believe your foreign…) thank you for the complement on how well my writing is, this is the first story that anyone has complemented me on my English. I'm American and English is my only fluent language but it even confuses me. LOL All the silly rules and exceptions are hard to follow all the time, and words that are spelled the same and can be pronounced 2 different ways like bow (bow and arrow) and bow (bowing to the king) or lead (follow the leader) and lead (hard metal) or tear (cry) or tear (ripped) I just wanna kick who ever created this silly language. LOL but thank you for the review though putting a nickname on your review makes it easier for me to mention you in my ANs. And thankyou Shetan20 I appreciate your review as well!

Once on a blue moon

Chapter 4

The next two days had a very similar pattern to my first full day in Rivendell, wake up at the crack of dawn thanks to my open room, get dressed, archery with Legolas, breakfast, staff training with Gandalf, a picnic with Legolas then hours of training with Aragorn followed by dragging myself to dinner exhausted and falling asleep the second my head hit the pillow. I somewhat regretted not sitting around enjoying the beautiful scenery that Rivendell offered but I was more excited to be trained by three top notch teachers. Besides I got to spend a little time enjoying my surroundings during the picnics that Legolas insisted we take.

It was quickly becoming apparent to me that even if Lord Elrond or Gandalf found a way to send me home I don't think I would accept it. At home I was depressed, and alone with only Bella to force me out into the world for a few hours before I returned to my room to sulk. Yet here I didn't even have the inclination to be upset and I had made many new friends. Arwen, though very feminine, had become a great confidant in only three short days and Aragorn reminded me a lot of my older brother before he moved out of state and I rarely heard from him. Gandalf easily made a great grandfather figure, though he was way more active than my grandpa. Bilbo was like a favorite uncle and the hobbits, well I found myself feeling like a mother figure to them. With Sam I was always making sure he ate and smiled, Pippin and Merry I was constantly keeping out of trouble and finding ways to entertain them and Frodo, even though he had yet to wake up I found myself sitting beside Sam for a few short minutes after dinner worrying over him.

As for Legolas, he had become my best friend, more so than Arwen who had taken on Bella's roll as the person who tried to cheer me up and make me stay out even when all I wanted to do was crawl into bed. Legolas made me laugh and was always answering my questions, though was as equally curious about my world so he asked almost as many as he answered. I knew that when the fellowship left I would really miss him but I couldn't even hint that I knew about the upcoming quest so I just tried to enjoy what time I could with him.

This morning when I went out to the training fields I found Legolas but he didn't have his bow with him instead he seemed in deep thought and that made me a bit curious. "Good morning Legolas, ready for practice?"

He turned to me and shook his head a serious expression on his face "Not today Echui, today is the council of Elrond and it starts in a few minutes. Lord Elrond asked me to come and get you, apparently he thinks that you should be at the council."

I was started and was curious as to why Lord Elrond would want me of all people to show up to the meeting but I agreed. We quickly returned to my room so I could drop off my bow and quiver. I shoved Legolas out the door and quickly found the nicest set of breeches and tunic that was in my wardrobe, for a second I had debated on putting on a dress but I didn't want to appear to be a domestic female to a gathering of males. I also changed my hairstyle from a high ponytail, that I usually wore at home, a low ponytail with two strands of hair in my face. With my hair like this it reached between my shoulder blades.

I had done all this quickly so it had only taken me less than ten minutes but we had to run to make it to the council on time. I was panting slightly but Legolas looked as if he had just taken a midday stroll and that kind of ticked me off. There were few seats left and I quickly sat down next to Legolas in one of the few remaining seats. My eyes wandered around the gathering and I saw Bilbo and Frodo sitting a few seats away. Sam had sat himself in a corner like an obedient servant and that upset me a little but I also knew that this wasn't because anyone was forcing him but because of some misguided thought that he should act like that. Before I knew it the council had started and Lord Elrond had started the council. He started off with everyday business, then moved onto all the information about the attacks on everyone… finally he moved to the tail of the nine, seven and three rings as well as the one ring. I listened intently because the movies had left almost this entirely out and much of it was all new to me.

Once Lord Elrond was done Gandalf took up the story, then Bilbo and finally Frodo. It was amazing to hear everything from the source and it was at this time I really wished I had read the books, they typically go into greater detail. I figured the council was over when Frodo said he would take the ring but Lord Elrond instead looked over to me "A final piece of business we must take care of before we end the council is miss Alana Wood. Alana would you like to explain to the council how you came about being here. Gandalf and I believe that you did not come here by chance, just as we believe Boromir was not here by chance."

I glared at Lord Elrond then Gandalf… the least they could have done was warn me about this, instead they didn't even tell me I was invited until just before the council started. I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment "Of course Lord Elrond, though I'm not to sure how to explain it still. To put it simply I'm not from this realm. I come from somewhere or some other time. My world is very different from this one, there are no elfs, dwarves or hobbits in my world. Most are just creatures in children's stories. I don't know how I got here, one moment I was sitting outside watching the second blue moon of the month, a blue moon we call it, the next I was stranded in the forests of Rivendell. I heard some strange thunder, which was strange because the sky was clear and it was the middle of winter."

The council was quiet for a few moments then an uproar started, a few of the humans were saying that I had gone crazy while the dwarves seemed upset that I would imply that they were just characters from a children's tale. Lord Elrond cleared his through but that didn't quiet the group, soon Gandalf let out a loud bellow and everyone shut up quickly. "Lord Elrond and I have confirmed that her story is true, she is not insane nor is she lying. We have spoken to many elders from all races and though there is no documentation of this happening before we did find a few prophecies foretelling the coming of a stranger from another place.

_When Darkness raises from its ashes and reigns  
A stranger from a distant place will appear  
Who will aid to free the world from darkness's chains  
Helping Halflings travel far and near_

_Their Awakening will bring about a new hope  
Standing like a rock in a storm  
Giving strength for the companions to cope  
To create unity strong bonds will form_

There was more at one time but it has been lost."

There was silence for a moment when Boromir stood up "How do we know that the stranger they are talking about is this woman? What help can she be?"

I growled and stood up glaring the sexist pig down "First what other stranger from a distant place is here when Halflings are about to travel?"

Boromir glared "I'm from a distant place… I traveled for many days to reach the meeting here."

I sighed and Legolas spoke up "The verse names her! Her name means Awakening and rock in her world."

This shut Boromir up and he sat down. I frowned and looked around the council then back at Lord Elrond "So I'm guessing that you are wanting me to accompany Frodo and Sam to destroy the ring if this verse is anything to go by?"

Lord Elrond looked at me and nodded slightly "Only if you wish to Alana, you must willingly volunteer to join the quest"

I looked over to Frodo and though he seemed sorry that I would be forced to join him on the quest that most likely meant our deaths he also seemed hopeful that he wouldn't be the only one without much of a choice in the matter. So taking a deep breath I nodded "Alright, I'll do it. I'll accompany Frodo and who ever else is part of the company to destroy the ring, though I doubt I'll be much help as a guide for you Frodo, but we can get lost together eh?"

He gave me a half smile and nodded slightly. Lord Elrond stood up and finally dismissed the group saying that he would talk to everyone and then decide who else would be part of the company. My stomach was roaring by the time everyone had filed out, I had missed breakfast and lunch had been hours ago. I looked up to Legolas who seemed really upset, Aragorn also seemed upset and was quickly approaching me "Alana you don't have to do this. You don't even belong in this world, why risk your life for it?"

I sighed shaking my head and poking Aragorn in the chest "Because no matter if this is my world or not people are in danger, because apparently this world needs me, because Frodo needs me, because it's the right thing to do, and simply because I want to. What kind of person would I be if I said no? I know any of you would do the same thing if you came to my world and I needed help to save it from doom."

Aragorn gave me a reassuring smile and reached out clasping my shoulder "Alright, but you don't have to do this alone. I am going to join you and Frodo on the quest. I started this journey in Bree and I want to see it completed"

I smiled and mimicked Aragorn's shoulder clasp "I appreciate it, and I'm sure that Frodo will appreciate it too"

Legolas seemed to appear from no where and also reached out clasping both of our shoulders "And I'll go as well, for what's a good adventure without an elf?"

I turned laughing and shaking my head, Legolas never let anything get him down. I had quickly learned that he was over optimistic and always cheerful even when doom seemed over the horizon. I smiled and was about to say something when my stomach insisted on making itself known and begging for food. I blushed and released Aragorn's shoulder "I think my stomach is making itself known and stating that it is hungry and won't stand to miss another meal"

Legolas laughed and Aragorn nodded "I believe that Lord Elrond has ordered a late lunch prepared, let us go eat then we can make our way down to the weapon smiths and see about having a bo made for you, we can also look into getting you a new bow that would work better in a battle. The bow you have is great for practice but it is only a beginner's bow and not made to deal with the hardships of battle."

I nodded but currently my mind was focused on my stomach, which was focused on getting food. We quickly made our way to the dinning hall only for me to be ambushed by three zealous hobbits wanting to formally introduce me to Frodo. "Frodo, this is Alana! She's a human from another world!" Pipping announced cheerfully.

I patted his over excited head and leaned down "He already knows Pip, Lord Elrond had me tell the council all about where I came from. I'm going to be helping Frodo with his little jewelry problem"

Pippin and Marry seemed stunned then overjoyed "That is great! This is going to be a wonderful adventure!" Merry cheered.

I sighed shaking my head then looking at Frodo who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me, that they had no clue what we were about to get into. "Hello Frodo, I'm glad you are doing better. I know that Sam was worried for you."

Frodo gave me a half smile and nodded "It's nice meeting you Alana, I just wish you didn't have to go on this quest, it isn't even your burden to bare."

I shook my head and placed a hand on his head "I wish neither of us had to go on this quest Frodo, but we must. Fate has chosen you as the ring barer and me as the glue that will hold our band of merry men, and woman, together, who ever they might be. Just relax and put the quest out of your mind, enjoy Rivendell while you can. I have a feeling neither of us will be back here for a long while."

He smiled at me playfully batting my hand away and nodding "Alright"

I smiled and reached out flicking the tip of his nose "What ever will be will be… and I think that we will be good friends before this is all over. NOW to food because I'm starving!"

The hobbits agreed and I heard two echoing laughs behind me and a few whispers that I must be part hobbit. I turned glaring at the two males who were following behind me and snorted "If I'm part Hobbit then you are Part Dwarf Legolas"

Legolas bulked and shook his head while I heard a deep rumbling laugh from across the room. I just smirked and nearly skipped over to the table where some wonderful food was already setting out on the table just waiting for hungry people to devour. I didn't waist any time filling my plate with my favorite foods, mostly fruits and bread. Amazingly it was Sam who reached out and added a chicken breast to my plate. When I turned to give him a curious look he just smiled "You should eat more meat if you want to keep up your strength with all the training you do Miss Alana"

I smiled and reached over giving him a hug. "Thank you Sam and how many times do I have to tell you its just Alana"

He blushed and shook his head "I'm sworn to take care of mister Frodo because he's a friend and has a very important task… you're a friend as well and have an important task as well so I'm going to take care of you too"

I smiled and nodded "I can take care of myself Sam, you just worry about Frodo. Besides, I think I have enough people trying to take care of me. Between Legolas and Aragorn I barely have to do anything on my own."

Sam looked over at Aragorn and Legolas who had sat on the other side of Merry and Pippin and were covertly trying to glance over me every so often "I think your right, but I will still do my best to make sure you're doing alright"

I nodded and agreed though mentally I told myself that it would be the other way around, I would be trying to make sure Sam was ok. Soon I had eaten my fill and was contently watching the hobbits still shoveling food into their mouths. I got up from the table and made my way to the door. Aragorn was apparently in an intense discussion with Boromir so I tried to sneak unseen out of the hall, but Legolas with his ever sharp eyes saw me and followed. We went to the weapons smith. It didn't take me more than a few moments to describe a bo. I wanted it to be the same height as me, an inch in diameter and both ends to be sharp as spears, I was going to be using it in battle. I also asked if there was a way to make it collapsible or if there was a way to make it two pieces so that it would be easier to carry. The weapons smith said he was sure he could figure something out and I was content. After that we went to the bow smith and Legolas said a long string of Sindarin words then the smith measured my height and arm span as well as my draw length. He soon waved us off and we left. "He said that your bow should be done in about two weeks."

I smiled and nodded, the first smith had said that my bo should only take him a week at the most so I would have plenty of time to practice and get use to it before the quest began. The day was still young but Legolas insisted that I take the day off from training and enjoy the day because there was little chance of me getting another day like this for a long time. I readily agreed and soon found myself back at the stables with Vanmoriel trying to get into my pocket. I had kept my promise and typically kept a sugar cube in there for her after every meal. I laughed removing it and she quickly munched away. "She's going to get fat if you keep that up Echui"

I shoved my shoulder into his playfully and shrugged "She gets enough exercise to get a treat every now and then. Besides, she's not my horse, if she gets fat she's your problem."

He sighed and shook his head "These past few days she hasn't seemed like my horse, she only wants you to ride her any more."

I smirked playfully and then stuck out my tongue at him "I'm just more likeable than you"

He snorted and shook his head "A mortal who animals love more than an elf… impossible"

I crinkled my nose shaking my head "Not impossible, improbable yes… but not impossible!"

He chuckled and reached out petting Vanmoriel's neck "When you return she's yours"

It came out of no where and it took me a few minutes to processes what he had just said "NO! She's your horse, Aragorn gave her to you and named her. You can't regift a gift"

He shook his head "Aragorn agrees, she favors you and she wants you to be her master. I have plenty of other horses and you have none. She's already claimed you I'm just telling you"

I sighed and leaned my forehead against hers "You silly horse, you don't even know if I will return from this quest yet you pick me. I still think its ridiculous but who am I to argue with a horse, an elf and a man"

Vanmoriel snorted in agreement and Legolas just laughed "Come on, she wants to go for a run and I just feel like enjoying the forest."

I quickly agreed, I mean why not I had nothing else to do and I enjoyed spending time in the woods. Though some small part of my mind was replacing time in the woods with time with Legolas… a treacherous part of my mind that I needed to squash right now, I had said it myself, I wasn't sure if I was even coming back from this quest alive.

The ride was leisurely and very peaceful. Legolas asked me about my family and I nearly broke down into tears when I told him about my broken family. How my mother had just left my sick stepfather, how my brother was constantly in trouble and how my sister was very self centered. In turn he told me about his home in Mirkwood. The more he described it the more I fell in love with the place. "When everything is done I wouldn't mind visiting your home Legolas, it sounds beautiful"

He smiled and nodded "Of course, once it is destroyed I will personally take you to Mirkwood and any other place you might want to visit."

Before I knew it the sun had started to set and we were forced to return to stables. I was reluctant to change into another dress but Legolas pointed out my deal with Arwen and I sulked off to my room. When I got there I found Arwen and a small army of female elves who forced me into a bath then into an over extravagant dress. Apparently there was a feast in Frodo's honor tonight and apparently Arwen wanted me to look my best. They quickly put my hair up in some beautiful hairdo and Arwen pulled out a beautiful soft leather cord with a small blue jewel in the center. At first I thought it was a necklace but Arwen worked it into my hair so that the jewel sat just above my eyebrows in the center of my forehead.

After she was done with my hair I stood back looking at the dress, it was a pale blue almost silver color. The Sapphire blue jewel was a beautiful contrast. It paled me out a little but I still looked beautiful. I felt like I was a princess in this outfit and with the small jewel almost felt like I had my own crown. When I looked back to thank Arwen all the elves had left including her. I grumbled about silent elves and how they needed to put bells on their shoes for us humans so we knew when they were leaving or sneaking up on us. I went to the door to make my way to the dinning hall but nearly ran into Legolas "Bells I swear! You all need BELLS!"

He gave me a curious look but I shook my head "Never mind. Are you my escort to tonight's dinner?"

He was silent for a moment but finally nodded "Of course, and might I add that you look absolutely stunning tonight"

I laughed and shook my head "All Arwen's doing, but thank you Legolas"

We made our way to the dinning hall and quietly ate dinner. I was sat between Legolas and Gandalf the talk was lively and I found out that Gandalf was also going to join Frodo and me on the quest. I had known that this would take place but it was reassuring to hear Gandalf say that he was going. Soon everyone had moved into the room where there was music and dancing. I tried to find a isolated spot to hide for the night but first Legolas then Aragorn drug me out to the small space where many elves and men were dancing to some of the music. I didn't know any of the dances, but they insisted and I was a quick learner. After a few dances I again tried to find a place to hide but Boromir came over just before I could slip away.

"Lady Alana was it?"

I sighed under my breath but turned giving him a half smile "Of course! Hello Boromir is there something I can do for you?"

He nodded walked with me over to one of the walls that would make it easier to talk "I was just wishing to apologize for my outburst at the council"

I nodded and shrugged "Don't worry about it. It took me a while to even believe that I was in a different world and as for that prophecy I only heard it when you did. I probably would have questioned Lord Elrond and Gandalf myself if you hadn't. I believe my ego was what was talking at the council. I don't like it when people underestimate me."

He nodded and smiled "Perhaps we can start off properly this time around. I am going to be here for a while seeing as Aragorn is planning on going on the quest with you and the Halfling."

I gave him a warm smile "Of course Boromir we can start off fresh. It is a pleasure to meet you Borormir but I'm really tired and wish to head to bed."

He laughed and nodded "of course I will see you around."

I nodded and soon made my way out of the hall. I quickly slipped into my room and sighed. It had been a long day but I wasn't really tired so I changed into an overly large tunic and my camo cargo pants, which I had rescued and hidden in my room. I slipped out of my room in bare feet and made my way towards the garden that I could see from my bedroom window. There was a beautiful fountain out there that I had yet to see up close. I wandered around the garden for nearly an hour admiring the flowers and the trees before finally settling down next to the fountain. The cool stone and the soft lull of the water put me to sleep.

The next time I woke up someone was carrying me down the hallway towards my bedroom. Through the fog of my half wakefulness I caught the scent of the forest and a uniquely male scent. I was starting to wake up more when I heard a familiar voice start to sing in Sindarin. I had no idea what the words were but I could easily guess it was a lullaby of some type because I started drifting back to sleep. With a low hum I curled closer to the wonderful scent and fell back asleep.

AN/ Alright everyone thanks for the reviews… but this doesn't mean you can stop… MORE MORE MORE! Please :) I'll update more the more you review… and please sign them even if its boy or girl or something so I can give you a shout out on here! Please read and review I wanna know your thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

AN Alright everyone thanks to one of my reviewers L.D I noticed that for some reason that 11 times I messed up and put AlaRa instead of AlaNa. So thanks to the handy tool in word I replaced all the mistakes and now it should stay AlaNa. Neways please read and review I'm still trying to put up one chapter a day.

Thanks to Mom22boys for giving the story a chance. I know that tenth walker stories can get a little overdone but Alana isn't going to take over the story. Yes she will go on the Ring quest with everyone but she isn't going to save the day instead of Frodo. Her story just runs parallel with the ring story and intertwines at certain points.

And thanks for the Review Lariel.

Sorry this chapter took an extra day to get up, I actually wrote this chapter last night when I was half asleep. When went to reread it this morning I had to scrap it because it just didn't make sense… LOL this might happen a few times just a warning, I tend to get busy and then leave my writing till the end of the day when I'm half asleep and my mind just isn't working right. Luckily for you I always try to read through the chapter once at least before I post it and I'll scrap it and start over if I feel it just isn't going to fit into the story well.

Onto writing!

Once on a blue moon

Chapter 5

In Rivendell time seems to fly by yet stand still at the same time. In an undying culture there just isn't much of a stress on time. Hours turn into days, days into weeks and weeks into months before you can realize what is happening. Before I knew it November 23rd was upon me and I really didn't realize it until someone mentioned it in passing at dinner. I seemed to freeze for a second then shrug it off. Today was my birthday and I had totally forgotten. Perhaps I forgot because when I had left my world it was January and I should have had 11 months until my birthday, or perhaps it was just the fact that I had been so busy training lately but what ever the reason I had missed my birthday.

As I was leaving the hall Bilbo called me over to his corner. I had really started to like the old Hobbit he seemed like a favorite uncle to me and I enjoyed hearing all his stories. "How is your training going my dear?"

I smiled and sat down beside him figuring I was going to be in for a long talk. "It is going well Bilbo, my training with Aragorn has picked up a lot now. I train with him from dawn until dusk it seams with only short breaks for meals. I get two other breaks but they are filled with Archery practice and staff practice. Though after the first two weeks Lord Elrond saw how tired I was and insisted that I get at least one day off a week to rest and recover. On those days I usually go out riding with Legolas or Arwen and I sit out in one of the beautiful gardens and have a picnic. I tend to sleep a lot on those days as well"

Bilbo nodded and reached out patting my head "Rest is essential when working so hard. Everyone can see how hard you work, at dinner you seem exhausted and you are losing a lot of weight and becoming even more beautiful every day. Soon the human men will be fighting over you."

I snorted and shook my head "Yeah right, it doesn't matter how beautiful I become Bilbo, the human men of this world would hate me. I'm outspoken, strong, independent and could probably kill most of them. Men here like docile women who's sole purpose in life is to be a brood mare and take care of the family."

He seemed to be thinking puffing on his pipe then he nodded "Very true, the humans are a bit backwards in some ways. Oh well, I did want to ask you something. Earlier tonight I noticed that you seemed to drift off for a moment what were you thinking about? A story or a song perhaps?"

I laughed and shook my head, I had a nice voice but I was never good at poetry and song writing. As for stories, I was too caught up in the adventure I was living to think of another story. "No Bilbo, actually someone mentioned that today was November 23rd. Today was my birthday and I totally forgot, this place has a bad habit of making time pass unnoticed."

He smiled and patted my shoulder "Yes, it does. Happy birthday Alana, I hope that this year will be good to you. In Hobbit tradition it is the birthday person's responsibility to give gifts to their guests, but I know you humans are a bit backwards so we'll call it even."

I laughed and nodded getting up slowly and giving the old hobbit a hug "Thank you for the warm wishes Bilbo and this year will be an adventure to say the least. I'll remember for next year to get you a present on my birthday as long as you get me one on yours."

He laughed and nodded, I said a brief goodnight then left the room to get some sleep. Tomorrow was one of my days off and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible.

The next morning came as usual the sun rose at nearly seven am so I got to sleep until about 7:30. I still hadn't found a way to sleep past sunrise no matter how tired I was, luckily I had went to bed rather early so I had gotten nearly ten hours of sleep. I dressed in my camo cargo pants and my black tshirt but I wore a pair of my elven made boots because my combat boots were starting to fall apart, they were almost 13 years old. Today I was to meet Legolas out at the stables for a ride.

When I reached the stable yard I found Legolas sitting on Alagos with Vanmoriel saddled and waiting on me "Hurry up Echui, you're running behind today and both of the horses are anxious to get out and run."

I sighed and quickly climbed into the saddle. I reached down stroking Vanmoriel's neck then patted her side "Sorry, I was just enjoying my freedom. Aragorn is so worried about me during the quest he's been pushing me really hard. I'm always exhausted."

Legolas gave me a sad sympathetic smile and nodded "Everyone has noticed and if this quest was anything else we would be yelling at Aragorn for pushing you so hard but this quest will be very dangerous and you need to be prepared. Though all of us have agreed that the final week before the quest you will not be required to train every day all day, we'll probably still want to train for an hour with each weapon but that should be enough. You need to let your muscles have a good rest because there will be a lot of walking and climbing."

I smiled and nodded "Then I will count down the days until that week of rest because I think I'll go crazy if I don't have something to look forward to"

He laughed and kicked Alagos into a run. We ran through the forest laughing and I enjoyed the feel of wind in my hair and the sweet smell of the forest. I soon noticed that we weren't heading in our normal direction to the waterfall and looked over at Legolas "Where are we going mellon?"

He smiled "It is a surprise Echui, just enjoy the ride and the forest"

I growled and guided Vanmoriel closer so that I could reach out and poke him in the arm "I don't much like surprises"

He laughed and urged Alagos to go faster. I glared at his back and did the same to Vanmoriel. Soon we were flying through the forest at top speeds almost racing to get to the unknown destination. Out of no where Legolas pulled Alagos to a halt and before I could react fully I burst into a clearing and pulled Vanmoriel to a halt to. I turned around growling at Legolas who was slowly coming into the clearing "What in the world were you thinking! You scared me half to death coming to a stop so quickly!"

Legolas laughed and pointed behind me, when I turned around I saw all of my friends standing there with many large picnic baskets sitting around "Surprise"

I blushed and slowly got off Vanmoriel. "What are you all doing here?"

Aragorn laughed and walked up to me giving me a hug "An old birdie told us that yesterday was your birthday so we decided to through you a surprise picnic"

I pulled back and looked around at the gathering, all the hobbits were there, Aragorn, Arwen, Elrond, Gandalf, Boromir and even Gimli were standing around watching my reaction. "Thank you, I really didn't expect this but I appreciate the thought. And Bilbo, I thought you said we were even."

He laughed and smiled "Of course WE are even, but what about everyone else?"

I snorted and shook my head "You sly old hobbit!"

Pippin came running over followed by Merry, the two of them really reminded me of children with how they acted. "Come on! We have all this wonderful food but no one would let us eat any of it until you got here. Lets eat!"

I laughed and followed him looking back at Legolas who was just standing there laughing at me, evil elfboy, I would have to get him back for springing this surprise on me. I turned back smiling down at Pip and Merry and followed them over to one of the many large baskets. They sat me down then proceeded to tell me of all the different types of food that were brought out here. I had to keep from laughing as they both started to nearly drool at just the mention of food and I soon had to interrupt them "Perhaps my little hobbit friends we should just start eating the food and stop talking about it"

They both readily agreed and soon everyone was eating wonderful fresh fruits, breads and small bits of meat. There was elf wine of different flavors and by the time we were finished I was stuffed and there was still plenty of food, which the hobbits were still working on finishing off. It was at this time I let my eyes wander, Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn were all gathered a few feet away from my little picnic spot talking about something in Sindarin but it seemed to be a lively conversation. Legolas, Boromir, and Gimli were sitting with Bilbo and though the Elf and the Dwarf were sitting as far apart as possible they seemed to both be enjoying one of Bilbo's many various tales. As I turned to look at my own group I even noticed that Frodo seemed to be enjoying himself .For the first time in nearly a month it seemed that the Ring of Power was at the back of their minds almost forgotten. I was glad that celebrating my birthday could bring about such a peaceful gathering.

I sighed contently and laid back letting the sunshine warm my face as I listened to the various conversations and the munching sounds of my little hobbit companions. I apparently had drifted off because I woke up to Merry poking me in the side "Wake up Alana, you can't go to sleep yet there are still gifts to give!"

I groaned and shook my head "Sorry Merry, Pip I don't have any gifts for you. If you would have warned me about this little picnic I probably could have gotten something."

I heard a few laughs around me and I sat up quickly feeling embarrassed about falling asleep. "Oh don't worry Alana, Bilbo told us that you humans were a bit backwards in the gift giving so we made you a gift, as long as you make us one on our birthdays too!"

I was startled when a pretty black necklace was shoved into my hand. It was a strong thick black leather choker with a beautiful moon pendent dangling off of it. Apparently one of the hobbits remembered me telling them that I missed wearing a choker because they had made me one for my birthday. "Frodo and Sam went and got the pendent while Pip and me made the band it went on. We hope you like it"

I smiled and reached out hugging each of them in turn and kissing them all on the foreheads. "I love it thank you so much!"

Bella had given me a similar necklace three years before but it had a tiger pendent instead and I wore it every day up until my arrival here. I had taken it off when I had showered before going outside on the night of the new moon. I found myself reaching up to rub the pendent many times only to be disappointed when I didn't find it and one day the hobbits had asked me what I was doing. When I explained to them what I was missing they all told me to just get another one, but I hadn't until that point. I quickly put the new necklace on and reached up rubbing the moon pendent. It wasn't a tiger but the moon had more meaning to me here.

I figured that was the end of my gifts but was sadly mistaken when Gimli and Boromir approached me. Gimli gave me a beautiful dagger that was dwarf made. There were some strange markings on the blade and Gimli quickly told me that the markings said 'little rock' in the secret dwarf language. He had remembered me saying that my name also meant rock and so had decided that is what he would call me. Boromir apparently had found out about Gimli's gift because he gave me a sheath for the dagger. I could wrap the sheath either around my calf or upper arm so that it would be easily concealed by clothing but accessible. I quickly hugged them both thanking them.

Elrond and Arwen were next to approach and give me their gifts. Arwen gave me some hair combs, in hopes that I would use them more, and Elrond gave me a beautiful silver bracelet that looked like silver leaves entwining and circling my wrist. It reminded me much of Arwen's diadem and I before I could hug them Arwen then Elrond hugged me tightly. "You are always welcome here Echui"

I did my best to hold back my tears but it was difficult and a few fell. At home I rarely felt welcome by my family, here in only a short month it felt like I had acquired a whole new family that loved and accepted me even if I was a stranger in their world. "Thank you"

Next Gandalf and Aragorn approached me. Gandalf gave me a Sheath for a sword, but on the other side of the belt was a sheath for my Bo. The bo that the smiths had given me could be separated into two segments and then reattached. The two pieces could be used separately or put together to form my bow. I hugged Gandalf fiercely and pulled back smiling "Thank you so much, I was wondering how I would carry around that bo on the quest."

He laughed and returned the hug kissing me on the forehead "You are welcome my dear"

Aragorn then held out a new sword, it was beautifully made. It was an arming sword, a variant of the broad sword though a bit thinner and just a bit shorter to work for my height. It was a one handed sword and the hilt was bound in black leather, apparently everyone figured out that my favorite color was black. On both sides of the blade was Sindarin writing. "What does it say?"

Aragorn smiled "On one side is the blades name Ant I Luin Ithil, meaning gift of the blue moon, on the other it says Echui"

I hugged Aragorn tightly "Thank you, the sword is beautiful, we will have to practice with it soon so I can get use to her"

Finally Legolas came up smirking and I playfully glared at him "Was Vanmoriel not enough of a gift?"

He shook his head and handed me a beautiful set of black arm guards with leaves sewn all over them in silver thread, the leaves matched those of the bracelet that Elrond had given me. "Thank you Legolas they are beautiful"

I hugged him and he leaned down kissing my forehead, I froze for a moment as sparks ran through my body. I slowly pulled back giving Legolas a confused smile wondering if he had felt the sparks too but brushed it off when he just smiled at me. Soon people started to leave, unlike me most people had tasks to do still today. Legolas was the only one who remained simply because he always made sure to get everything done before we hung out so that I wouldn't be fully alone on my days off.

We stayed in the clearing until dinner time exchanging stories, I told Legolas about my twenty first birthday where I got trashed and drunk dialed my dad, which I then had to explain telephones to him, and in turn he told me about a few of his birthdays. We finally put all my gifts on Vanmoriel's back tying them down and then made our way back to the stables.

After brushing down both of the horses Legolas helped me carry my gifts to my room then he left to get ready for dinner. Again Arwen arrived at my room to help me get ready for dinner. She picked out a beautiful green dress and had me wear the new bracelet. She put another jewel in my hair that rested on my forehead but this time it was green to match the dress. Again she left before I could thank her and when I left my room Legolas was waiting for me as he did most evenings. "Let me guess, Arwen got me all dressed up because Elrond is having dinner in my honor for my birthday?"

Legolas laughed and nodded "Yes of course, you know we elves don't pass up an opportunity to celebrate."

I sighed and nodded preparing for a long night of everyone wishing me a happy birthday. When we got to the dinning hall it was as I guessed, everyone wished me Happy birthday in various languages and I received a few small gifts from some of the elves that had grown fond of me. Mostly they were just little trinkets, a necklace from an older elf woman, a few more bracelets and lots of hair jewelry. By the time dinner was done I was exhausted, it felt as if I had been training all day and all I wanted to do was sleep. Gandalf saw my weariness and escorted me to my room wishing me a good night.

I slipped into my room quickly changing into my night cloths and slipping under the covers. As I lay looking up at the ceiling I thought back over the day. This had been the best birthday of my life, most of the time my birthdays had passed unnoticed other than a quick wish from parents and a simple gift or two. Today I had two parties and many gifts from more than just family. As I drifted off to sleep I found myself praying that I wouldn't have to return to my world.

AN There you go, I've updated. I really hope you like this chapter… its kind of a filler but I needed to put it in here to show how the friendships are developing… next chapter starts the quest so get ready for some adventure! Please keep reviewing I LOVE reviews!


	6. Chapter 6

AN/ YEAH! I got my first , official, repeat reviewer.. Thanks L.D! I really don't want this to be your typical tenth walker story. Like I said before this story isn't just about that, yes she will be along for the ride, and yes almost 4/5ths of the story will focus on the fellowship but the main point of this story is to show Alana's growth in friendship and herself. I agree why should she only be friends with 3 people though I can't guarantee that she's going to be friends with EVERYONE… but that's just something you'll have to wait and see. Neway thanks for the review.

Then I got my second repeat reviewer mom22boys. I can't wait to get into the romance either but I hate stories that just jump into a relationship, it would have been ridiculous for them to have much of a relationship while she was busy preparing for the quest. I mean she was training nearly twenty four seven. Besides I hate stories where they just POOF love each other and live happily ever after. LOL guess we both just gotta be patient… But I will tease you a bit… the relationship should start in the next three chapters, counting this one as the first of those 3 so keep an eye out K.

Thanks for the Review Wolviegurl!

Once on a blue moon

Chapter 6

Dawn broke foggy and dreary on December 25th. This was the first day that I had seen that didn't start off bright and sunny in Rivendell, now if this was because winter had just started or because even the weather wanted to foreshadow the long treacherous journey I will never know but it didn't really make me excited to set out on a quest that could mean my death and the death of my new friends. We had all been given new thick fur lined cloaks, thick warm boots, new clothing and thanks to the gloves that I had with me when I came here we all had nice gloves that would keep our hands warm. Bill the pony had as much as he could carry on his back as did we because we didn't know how long until we reached a safe place to restock so we took the better safe then sorry option.

I was amazed to find my quilt among the things on Bill's back. My beautiful quilt had been through so much since it was made. The quilt was originally my step fathers, who had it made just before he went off to live in Alaska when he was in the military. The blanket was made out of flannel fabric one side was black the other side was midnight blue. The person who made it had taken string and sewn bits of white string through it to bind it together. The string looked like little stars in the sky. It was a warm blanket and big enough for three full grown men to lie under, or four little hobbits and a grown woman. Half of me wanted to leave it safely behind because I knew that once we got to Moria Bill would leave, but I didn't know if I would ever return to Rivendell so I decided that the fate of the blanket would just have to be left to what ever power ruled in this world.

I was pulled from my thoughts about my quilt when Boromir blew the horn of Gondor. I looked over at the rest of my companions, out of everyone I seemed the best armed. Boromir only had a long sword, shield and his horn. Gimli his mail and an ax, Legolas had his bow, arrows and a small white knife. The hobbits had their small swords. Gandalf had his staff and a sword. Frodo had mail and his sword. I had the dagger that Gimli had given me, my sword Ant I Luin Ithil, my bo, a quiver full of arrows and my bow. I also wore the dagger sheath, sword and bo sheath and both arm guards. I felt over dressed.

Everyone was here, now that Gandalf had finally arrived along with Elrond. "This is my last word, The ring-bearer is setting out on the Quest of Mount Doom. On him alone is any charge laid: neither to cast away the Ring, no to deliver it to any servant of the enemy nor indeed to let any handle it, save members of the company and the council, and only then in gravest need. The others go with him as free companions, to help him on his way. You may tarry, or come back, or turn aside into other paths, as chance allows. The further you go, the less easy will it be to withdraw; yet no oath or bond is laid on you to go further than you will. For you do not yet know the strength of your hearts, and you cannot foresee what each may meet upon the road"

Elrond then turned his eyes to me "The path is unknown for you Echui, for the prophecy mentioned you binding the fellowship together yet also spoke of helping Halflings. The best advice I could give you is to follow your heart, your part in this quest is not well known. Just be careful"

With those parting words and a bit of squabbling we left Rivendell behind. For fourteen days we traveled in near silence, the sky was grey and the weather dreary. Legolas didn't even attempt to make conversation these days. His main task was to keep an eye out for servants of the enemy and I left him to that job. The hobbits tried to be lively for the first day or so but soon they were just to tired to even do anything more than walk. I was exhausted myself but I was use to strenuous days because of my training for the past two months, so though I grew tired I could keep up with the long striding males. Pippin even joked one night that perhaps instead of Aragorn being called Strider I should be simply because I had to take two really long steps for every one and a half that the males took. Short legs sucked to say the least.

On the morning of the fifteenth day of travel the morning dawned bright and beautiful. Even though everyone was exhausted it seemed to give many of us a fresh boost of energy. We were at the boarder of the country of men, according to Gandalf. For the first time we saw the mountains that we had been walking towards since we had first set out. Gimli could name them all and did so. The hobbits were in awe and I personally just wanted a bath, but I knew that was days if not weeks away.

That morning we actually sat down and had a fire and enjoyed a bit of a break. The hobbits talked constantly and Gimli quickly joined them telling stories about the mountains and many of the legends of the Dwarves before they had all fallen asleep. Sam had first watch and restlessly I drifted in and out of sleep. When second watch came around I gave up on getting rest and got up. Legolas had the second watch so I sleepily wandered over to him than sat down. Even though the morning was beautiful it was still chilly and I pulled my fur lined cloak closer to me. The hobbits were currently curled up under my blanket so I made due with what I had. "I never was a big fan of the sun, always a bit of a night owl in my youth but I think for the first time in my life I welcome the sun with open arms even if it is still cold. "

Legolas nodded and briefly glanced over at me "I've always loved the sunshine Echui, but I don't have to sleep as much as you so I rarely have to chose between night and day. As for the cold it never bothered me much, but that is also one of the many benefits of being an elf"

I nodded and shivered slightly under the cloak, when he noticed this he reached out tugging me closer to him and after opening his cloak wrapped it around us both. I sighed contently at the added warmth and let out a soft yawn. The time for rest was soon going to end, probably in about two more hours but I really didn't care. "Sam spotted spies something earlier so we will not get the well deserved rest that everyone needs. You should go try to get more sleep"

I would have answered but with the added warmth and the slow steady sound of Legolas' heart I had already drifted back to sleep.

Again the rest was too short because the next thing I knew I was being softly shook awake "Time to get up Echui, it is time to wake the others and start walking again"

I groaned and looked up at Legolas, I probably should have been embarrassed for falling asleep against him but this wasn't the first time. Many times during the past two months I had found myself talking to him one minute and fast asleep the next. That's what happens when your body is exhausted, it tends to shut down at random times, mostly when you're relaxed and Legolas always made me relax and let go. I sat up and stretched working all the kinks out of my body while Legolas went to wake everyone else up. I could tell the moment that someone told Pippin about no fire and having to move on because he started to complain. For the remainder of the day we sat resting and eating cold food while watching out for more birds. When dusk finally set in we started again following Aragorn. Even though the enemy was about everyone was still more lively. The hobbits talked in hushed voices and even asked Gimli for a tale or two.

An hour or so before dawn a shiver ran down most of the fellowship's spines and Frodo had seen something pass over us but the rest of the night passed uneventfully. We were all happy to see another bright beautiful morning but it was still really cold. For two more days we set off with a cold clear night ever watchful for shadows blocking out the moonlight, and each morning the bright sunshine signaled the end of our traveling. Finally on the third morning Caradhras stood before us in all her dangerous glory. We would spend the day in her shadow resting before starting our journey up towards her treacherous peak. To say I wasn't looking forward to the climb was an understatement. In the movie snowstorms and rockslides had sent the fellowship back down the mountain, part of me hoped that the movie had just over exaggerated it a bit but I guessed it was unlikely.

Today Gandalf and Aragorn took the watch so after making sure the hobbits were tucked in under my warm blanket I walked over again sitting next to Legolas. "The mountain looks foreboding, and I get the feeling that it isn't going to let us reach the top"

He looked down at me and smiled reaching over and again putting his cloak around both of us, a new nightly routine of ours. "She will probably try to kick us off of her mountain sides but Gandalf is determined to climb her so climb her we must. Get some rest Echui I feel this climb will take a lot out of all of us."

I snorted as I rest my head against his shoulder "It might wear most of us out but you and Aragorn seem to have boundless energy. I bet all of us will be ready to keel over from exhaustion and you will still be bounding around like a kid on candy eager to move on"

He sighed and I could feel his smile "Probably, but that is beside the point."

I grumbled and closed my eyes with a long yawn and slowly drifted to sleep. I really wasn't getting much use out of that blanket but I was glad that I brought it, the hobbits were all safe and snug under its warmth and I was glad that Frodo could stay safe and warm at least while he was with the rest of us.

Once everyone had woke up we had a brief meal then started on our way. We started out when the sun was still in the sky, the gentle incline that we had been traveling for the past day turned into a steep climb up a mountain side. Just before we truly started to climb Boromir told everyone to gather a bundle of wood as a precaution. Only a short time after we gathered the wood our path became more treacherous. Fallen boulders lined the path we were traveling and the incline got sharper. Soon the sun set and the night grew darker because of large clouds blocking out the moon. Soon the wind picked up and made traveling even less bearable. We finally reached the true foot of Cardhras at around midnight and I wasn't sure if I was relieved or worried. The overhang would be a bit of protection from any weather but the shear drop if you strayed from the path scared the living daylights out of me.

We slowly climbed taking it a foot at a time with Aragorn and Gandalf in the lead and Boromir and Legolas brining up the rear. Pip and Merry walked just behind Aragorn and Gandalf. Frodo I kept directly in front of me and Sam reluctantly was right behind Boromir leading Bill. It was Frodo who felt the first snowflake, but it didn't take long for the rest of us to feel the cold frozen bit of water falling from the clouded sky. Soon the snow was steadily falling and then it started to accumulate. We finally had to fight because we couldn't see the person in front of us let alone the side of the mountain. Almost as soon as we stopped the snow slowed to a near halt and the wind died down yet as soon as we started back up again the snow again started falling from the sky at a furious rate. Soon the hobbits looked like hunchbacks because they were doubled over so much trying to protect themselves from the snow. Even Boromir had trouble climbing in the blizzard that the snow had become.

I was shivering from head to toe and was having trouble walking because the snow was nearly up to my knees. Without anyone saying a word the fellowship came to a halt. There was a strange voice on the air and it made all the hair on my body stand on end. I moved just in time when a large bolder came tumbling down the mountain side. It landed where I had been standing, everyone quickly darted under the small overhang. "We can not go further tonight" Boromir called over the howling wind.

It didn't take long to decide to huddle up and try to wait out the storm. This time the snow didn't stop instead it steadily grew deeper and deeper. Soon the larger people had to form a circle around the hobbits. Though the men insisted I join the smaller hobbits and the dwarf in the center of the circle I protested and stubbornly forced myself in between Legolas and Boromir. I was over a foot taller than Gimli who stood only four feet and I was almost two feet taller than the hobbits. Though each of the men stood at least a foot taller than me I just ignored them each time they tried to crowd me out and into the smaller circle.

Eventually even the circle wasn't working because Frodo started to fall asleep and would have been buried alive if Boromir hadn't lifted him out of the snow. After Boromir pointed out that if we stayed any longer even I would be buried alive in the snow Gandalf passed around a flask of Miruvor but other than giving us all energy it didn't stop the snow. Finally Gandalf conceded to a fire to help starve off the snow.

Gandalf had to light the bundles of wood in the end but it felt so wonderful to have the fire to warm our fronts. The snow melted and instead of feet of snow we sat in inchs of water but all of us would take the water over being up to our necks in snow. This worked well while we still had wood but soon even that ran down to nothing. Luckily just before sunrise the snow started to lessen then all together stop.

It took a bit of arguing but we decided to head back down the mountain, that was until we saw the wall of snow that was as deep as I was tall, standing up. Boromir and Aragorn began digging a path through the snow trying to clear it out for the rest of us. Legolas watched them for a moment then smiled at all of us "Let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming and for running light over grass and leaf, or over snow – an elf"

With that he sprang up on top of the snow and ran over it as if running through an open field. He ran around the bend and the rest of the companions waited rather impatiently. Finally first Legolas returned then Aragorn and Boromir returned. Boromir picked up Pippin and Aragorn Merry and they took off through the snow, I trailed behind them with Legolas walking on top of the snow right next to me. When the snow got too deep for my tastes he would offer a hand down for me and would lift me slightly up so that I didn't feel so trapt. Luckily he only had to do this once toward the end of the journey. After Aragorn and Boromir dropped off Pip and Merry they went back through the snow to retrieve the rest of our fellowship while Legolas and I stayed to keep an eye on the tired hobbits.

Soon we saw the bobbing heads of the last members of our fellowship and I sighed in relief. I was about to say something out finally getting out of this snowy hell when we all heard a rumbled and another rock slide occurred blocking our path back up the mountain. "Alright alright, we get the hint! Were going!" I screamed up at the mountain.

With a groan we made our way back down the rest of the mountain, we spotted more birds but couldn't pay attention to them any more, we had to make it to the bottom of the mountain before nightfall in fear of the mountain destroying us in our sleep.

AN/ Alright everyone thanks for the wait. I got a bit busy… got my 2000 words in this morning but the chapter wasn't done so I finished it up tonight. This might become a bit more typical cuz I'm in summer school (college) and my weekdays get busy and tiring. Things should start picking up a bit so keep your eyes open. AND REVIEW! I'm gonna sick my German Shepherd on you all if you don't reply soon! I know the chapter is short but I wanted to stop here cuz in the book this is the end of the chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Sorry Sorry SORRY SORRY for the long wait for the update, I had a bad 2 weeks kept getting hurt, first I strained my deltoid, then I got burned by a cigar in 3 places now I have lovely scars… then I got bit by a dog and FINALLY I lost my LOTR book! I've looked everywhere for it and I just can't find it! So until I find it the updates will be slow cuz I'll be doing my best to work strictly from memory and websites online that have clips of the story. So just bare with me until I either find the book or break down and buy another. All my Review Replies will be at the end of this chapter cuz they are long. Thanks :)

Once on a blue moon

Chapter 7

It took us most of the day to get away from the killer mountain and most of us, except of course Legolas, were about to collapse. The sun was sinking quickly below the horizon and I could hear Gandalf, Boromir, Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas arguing about where we would go to next. Personally I knew what would eventually be decided so I found a nice comfy spot near the others and sat down with my back resting against a large rock. Pippin and Merry saw me settling down and came over curling up on either side of me. I smiled down that the weary hobbits wrapping my arms around their small forms. They yawned and started to drift off almost immediately. I smiled down at them and reached up playing with the ends of their hair they each let out a content sigh.

I leaned back glancing up at the sky, there were millions of twinkling stars and I was amazed to see a few constellations that I recognized. To the southeast I could easily Pick out Orion and his three stared belt and Taurus just above his head and bow. Pegasus in the West was the next to catch my eye. Of course Cassiopeia quickly drew my attention because it always looked like a W in the north. I found the little dipper and Polaris. I knew there were many other constellations but the scattered trees that were around me were blocking them. I felt a body sit next to me and I looked over seeing Legolas "How are you feeling Echui?"

I sighed and shrugged slightly "Tired and my whole body hurts but I'm doing alright, I am actually use to hurting all the time now."

He laughed and nodded his head "What has you so distracted?"

I smiled and nodded up towards the sky "I just noticed that I recognized some of the constellations. It reassured me that Middle earth is definitely my world. I mean if I had some how been transported to a different planet or something the stars wouldn't be in the same position. It also makes me feel more at home because I can recognize the stars and remember the stories that went with them."

He smiled "Perhaps when the quest is over you can tell me a few stories"

"Could you tell us some stories now Alana?" Pip said through a yawn.

"Yeah Alana hobbits love good stories" Merry agreed sleepily nodding his head.

I laughed and shook my head "Not tonight, were all exhausted from climbing up and down that nightmare that Gandalf had the audacity to call a mountain. I'm to tired to properly tell a story."

They sighed dejectedly but didn't put up to much of a fuss because they were too tired to do much more then groan. I smiled sleepily at Legolas and was about to say something when Aragorn came over and told us that we were moving to an area that would be easier to defend. I shook Merry and Pip a few times but they didn't wake up. I groaned and quickly stood up, they both fell down and crashed into each other with a yelp. "Hey! What did you do that for?"

I just gave them a tired smirk and reached down picking up my rucksack hefting it back onto my shoulders. After a few minutes everyone was again ready to move and I walked slowly beside Legolas as we made our way about half a mile away to a hill that had no major trees to obscure our view or for creatures to hide behind. Not even a minute after we had got to the hill wolves began to howl. I came alive in that moment, I wasn't tired any more and I shot up letting out a low growl. I had owned two German Shepherds and my uncle had raised Malamutes, Malamutes were the closest living breed to wolves and German Shepherds had one of the closest mindsets to a wolf. Stood my ground making myself look as tall and big as I could. I heard Aragorn say that the wind was howling but I didn't even looked back as I corrected him "That isn't the wind, those are the voices of wolves who have just sounded off to hunt, and I have the bad feeling that we might be the prey"

Boromir desperately looked to Gandalf "how far is Moria?"

Gandalf said between fifteen and twenty miles depending on the terrain and it was grudgingly decided to try to hold our ground until morning light instead of risking the travel with everyone being exhausted and wolves on our tail. We quickly built a large fire to keep at our backs so that we could defend our fronts with no worries about guarding out backs if they were to attack. I couldn't sleep for the first half of the night, the sounds of the wolves calling to each other. A large shadow of a wolf approached a small circle of rocks that sat around the hill. His eyes seemed to scan the gathering, they lingered on Frodo for a moment before falling on me. The Warg, as Gandalf had corrected me earlier, seemed to be intently watching me. I knew that looking into the eyes of a wolf was not the smartest thing in the world but I lifted my chin making myself look bigger.

The wolf curled back his lip but didn't move. Something was drawing me to the wolf, perhaps it was the fact it was watching me so intently, or perhaps it was the strange intelligence that I found there but I slowly stood up from my spot. I took a step forward but felt a hand reach out and grab my wrist. The Warg's growl grew louder when Legolas grabbed my wrist. "Let me go Legolas, I can defend myself."

He reluctantly let me go and I took another step forward. The warg tilted it's head slightly but didn't come any closer. "You won't get him, you need to leave us alone."

The warg shook his head and one ear twitched. I could almost hear him saying 'I can't leave without him'. I growled low baring my teeth at him. "I'll kill you myself if I have to, you won't get him and you pack mates will die as well. This quest is not a wolf matter."

He let out a puff of air again looking at Frodo then at me, then again from Frodo to me. The other wolves had quieted and I felt everyone tense as more wolf shapes circled out group. The Alpha finally took a step closer to the fire and me but it wasn't an aggressive move. I heard a rough rumbling sound and at first I thought that the Alpha was growling but soon the growling turned into rough words. "For many generations warg and wolf pups have been told the story of the moon child. The moon child was said to be a human with the spirit and scent of a wolf. The moon child would be a gift to us from the moon, a protecting spirit. You are the moon child, your scent is that of a wolf and you act like one in everything you do. If you are protecting this band of creatures then we will heed your word, but we can not stop all the others who hunt you."

I let out a slow breath and my body relaxed slightly but not totally, wolves are pack animals and you could never truly let down your defenses around them. The large wolf looked over his shoulder and a second wolf approached our group. This animal was truly a wolf, not a warg it was about half the size of the warg and was pure black except for a white spot that looked like a moon on its forehead. The warg seemed to say a few things to the wolf then turned towards me "This is the beta male of our pack. He will be your protector. He is called Shadow Moon."

I sighed and nodded my head "I can tell he's not to happy about being my babysitter"

The warg let out a growling laugh and Shadow moon's ears flipped back and he seemed a bit ashamed. "It is an honor to protect the moon child, I just don't want to leave my mate"

I smiled and nodded "I understand how you feel, if you wish for her to come then a second protector wouldn't go amiss, but we are on a dangerous quest and I wouldn't want to put another wolf in danger"

Shadow Moon shook his head and let out a growl. "She needs to remain home with the pups, and I would not want to see her in danger"

I nodded in agreement. Shadow moon looked at me then after giving a bit of a head nod to the Alpha warg he walked over to me and sniffed me a few times before doing a weird bow like move and sitting next to me. "Rest moon child, tonight we will hold off any enemy that might come. We will have to leave once the sun rises but you and your company can get a good nights rest while the moon hangs in the sky."

I smiled and thanked the wargs before turning to look at the rest of the group. They were all staring at me like I was crazy. Their eyes kept drifting between me and Shadow Moon. The hobbits looked terrified, not just of the wolf but of me and it made my heart ache. Legolas cautiously approached but Shadow moon growled. "Hey stop that! You are not aloud to growl at the fellowship!"

Shadow Moon glared at me for a moment but nodded his head his ears flipping back. "Sorry about that. So what do you guys think?"

Aragorn, Boromir, Gandalf, Gimil and Legolas looked at each other before then looking back at me "Ek, what just happened? You were growling and the Wargs growled back, now there is a wolf sitting at your side. I think we are all a bit lost at what is happening?"

I blinked a few times then looked at everyone. "I wasn't growling I was talking, just like I am talking right now!"

Legolas reached out putting a hand on my shoulder and shaking his head "No you started growling then the wargs turned and left our sight, though I can tell they are only a few hundred yards away still sitting in wait. And not to mention your new pet"

I blinked a few times then looked down at Shadow Moon "They can't understand you?"

He nodded his head "Not even the elves can understand us, you are the moon child and the magic that brought you to our world gave you the ability to speak to us, just like you speak to them."

I sighed and reached up rubbing my forehead. "I see, well apparently I can speak wolf and warg now"

Legolas raised and eyebrow and I sighed looking at Gandalf "Do you understand what is going on?"

He sighed and nodded "What ever magic brought you to our world must have also given you the ability to understand the wolves and wargs. I suspects it even gave you the ability to understand us."

I frowned looking at them and then something seemed to click "I'm not speaking English right now am I?"

They all looked puzzled "No you are speaking in the common tongue and I'm not sure what language English is but it most likely isn't what we are speaking now"

I growled low in my throat but nodded "I wonder why it doesn't work with all languages but I don't even want to figure it out to tell you the truth."

They all sighed and finally Aragorn walked forward "So what is happening Alana?"

I quickly explained that I was what the wargs called the moon child and that Shadow Moon was going to protect me during our quest, that the Wargs were going to stand guard tonight so we could rest. It took a while for everyone to be convensed, and the hobbits really weren't ever truly convinced but they all settled down. The hobbits took my blanket and curled up next to the fire, Aragorn, Boromir and Gandalf put themselves between the wolves and the hobbits. Legolas and Gimli amazingly didn't mind being around each other as long as they knew I was safe so they settled themselves on either side of me with Shadow Moon lying at my feet, trying to keep his distance from the fire. Bill the pony was pawing at the ground and staying on the other side of the fire from the wolf.

The morning came all too soon for some of the fellowship, but luckily the hobbits and I were well rested. We were the weak links in the fellowship so the others really didn't mind. The wargs were gone at first light as they said they would be and Shadow Moon seemed to constantly be glancing behind us as if he wanted to leave. I told him many times he could go if he wanted, that I had plenty of guardians but he refused saying that it was an honor to be the moon child guardian.

We finally made it to Moria and Bill was released. He quickly hightailed it away from us and the Shadow Moon before disappearing into the distance. I sat down a little ways away from the others when everyone was talking about the door and looked down at Shadow Moon. "I need you to do something for me Shadow Moon. You must help me protect the hobbit with the ring until he leaves on his own, will you do this for me?"

Shadow Moon growled glaring at me then snorted "It isn't my job to protect the hobbit, I'm here to protect you"

I growled and poked the wolf in the nose "But it is my job to protect the hobbit, in turn wouldn't that make your job to protect him too?"

He sighed shaking his head side to side for a few minutes before his ears flipped back and he nodded "Fine, I will watch the hobbit as well as you. But if I must choose between the two of you I will have to protect you."

I nodded in agreement reaching out and scratching between his ears. At first he seemed reluctant to let me do this but after a minute his tongue lulled a bit and he leaned into the scratching. This went on for a few minutes until one of the hobbits tossed a rock into the water. I jumped up and Shadow Moon growled "Get the door open and get into the tunnels, I smell something fowl in that water."

I nodded and looked up "Mellon!"

The door crept open and I gave everyone a false puzzled look "So who figured out the password?"

Gandalf gapped at me and sighed "Apparently you my dear, it was staring us all in the face this whole time. How did you figure it out?"

I blinked a few times and laughed "I wasn't trying to figure out the password, I just wanted to tell you all that Shadow Moon smelled something fowl on the air coming from the water. We need to get into the tunnels NOW!"

They all jumped up and started towards the tunnels a bit reluctantly but with haste. I followed behind and had just gotten to the entrance when I felt something wrap around my ankle. "EEP!"

Shadow howled then charged at the tentacle that was wrapped around my leg and soon a few other members of the fellowship followed. Part of me was upset that the thing got me, but I was a bit happy that the thing didn't get Frodo. It didn't take more then a moment for someone to hack through the tentacle and drag me into the tunnel. Just as we all got inside the creature hit something and the entry collapsed. I sighed for a moment then let my eyes wander the crowd. Luckily everyone was there including Shadow Moon. We were all safe for now and with that I fainted from shock and relief.

AN 2/

*Ek I think means rock in Khuzdul the dwarf language. I know Felek means Hew Rock and Felak means Hewing so I'm guessing Fel means hew and Ek means rock and ak means ing. If anyone knows differently please tell me.

Simply said thanks again L.D and mom22boys. You both are replying every chapter so you'll get mentioned every chapter :).

Thanks for the review Iris, Bad Hero, CountryGirl6699, colin and Jess no worries I don't plan on stopping this story any time soon!

Crystal Moon Magic, well I don't really plan on Alana changing much in the story I'm sorry to say, YES there will be a few changes but nothing as drastic as saving someone simply because in my mind everything happens for a reason and Alana believe the same thing. Everyone dies for a reason… you know for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I'll get into that more later but please keep reading.

Katara97 ok first thanks for the review. Second as for the mistake in Hail and hale common mistake… you can hale a cab but you hail from New York… I'll try to fix it… third as for the run on sentence… for one thing he is speaking… yes I probably should watch run on sentences but sometimes I do it on purpose… when someone writes a run on sentence in speech it usually expresses urgency… or just someone talking nonstop. In speech a period is a small break in speech. So if a valley girl was talking I would probably do something like this "like she went to the mall and found this awesome shirt then she went to try it on and OMG it didn't fit right and I can't believe that she still bought it!" or if someone in a war ran up to their officer I would write something like this "SIR were under attack and can't find any cover what do you want us to do?" that's a run on sentence too but it shows the urgency of the soldiers speech. If you don't like authors who write this way then you might not want to continue my story because that's how I write speech sometimes. And finally as for the language barrier she was MAGICALLY brought to middle earth… I think what ever power would find a way to make sure she could communicate with the people she needed to. As for me not mentioning it… I think she wouldn't realize she was even speaking another language if it was magically done. THOUGH if you do read through it someone did mention her strange accent and speech patterns *I think… I write and rewrite chapters I hope I didn't delete that in one of my rewrites.*


	8. Chapter 8

AN/ Hey thanks guys for the reviews! I really didn't plan on doing the whole warg/wolf thing but Katara97 did bring up a good point and after I had halfway written the last chapter the idea popped into my head and I deleted it all and started again with that idea in mind. It helped explain her ability to communicate with the fellowship and well its gonna play out more with the moon child thing later on down the road… so I hope you all enjoy the story. Review Responses will now be at the end of the chapter AN…

Sorry everyone for the LONG wait, writers block kills. I also got a burr in my butt to work on my Trilogy Book series. Plus Zutara week started this week and I started on it. I'll do my best to update this story as much as possible but my trilogy is kind of top priority because well hopefully it will make me money!

Once on a blue moon

Chapter 8

The first thing I noticed when I came too was the soft sound of whining and the sound of multiple feet quietly hitting the ground, next came the damp musty scent of the mines, soon feeling came back into my body and I could feel something nudging me in the leg at random intervals. I could feel something soft against my cheek and someone's hands under my legs. A dull ache also started in my head. I let out a groan as I pushed through the final layer of fog that clouded my mind. I slowly cracked my eyes open only to see the side of Boromir's face next to mine. I jolted slightly and he stopped. "I see you've finally joined us in the land of the living. How are you feeling Alana?"

I groaned slightly my side was hurting as well as one of my ankles. "I've been better Boromir, how long have I been out?"

He kept walking but I could tell he was trying to walk cautiously to make sure I wasn't jostled around to much. "About a day, we had to keep moving so we've been taking turns carrying you. You hit your head pretty hard so we didn't think you would wake up for a while, you also got a gash on your side and a rock fell on your ankle so Gandalf doesn't want you to walk around until we can get a better look at it."

I growled low poking his shoulder "Let me down, I won't be toted around like a weak child. Let me at least test my ankle to see if it will hold my weight, I don't want to be a burden and I don't want to wait to test it when danger is near."

Boromir grunted showing his displeasure with letting me down but did as I asked. He called ahead to the others and everyone stopped. Aragorn came back to help me ease down from my place on Boromir's back. I made sure to put my weight on my good leg first, it pulled at my side but the pain was manageable. I then cautiously put some weight on my other leg. A sharp pain ran from my ankle all the way up to my hip but I just closed my eyes for a few seconds and took slow calm breaths. The pain dulled slightly so I took a slow step forward. I let out a slight whimper and Shadow Moon came over brushed his side against mine softly "Let the human's carry you Moon Child, you will slow them down to much if you follow your foolish whims"

I growled at Shadow and straitened up walking forward quickly. I ignored the pain that raced up my body with every step and just glanced back at the group "well are you coming?"

The group sighed and started walking again. Legolas took a few brisk steps and came up to my side. I glanced at him for a moment wanting to give him a reassuring smile but I couldn't because I was currently biting my lip to keep from whimpering with each step. He glare at me "You shouldn't be so stubborn Echui."

I snorted and reached out leaning against him to help take some of the weight off of my ankle "I'll be fine, I just have this bad feeling that there is danger coming our way. I'll put someone in danger if I'm clinging to their back if a fight breaks out."

He nodded and wrapped his arm around me being careful of my side and shook his head "You shouldn't worry so much, we would find a way to keep you safe if it were to come to that."

I shook my head and looked towards Frodo "No, if a fight breaks out we need to protect Frodo, he is the ring barrer, his safety comes first"

He didn't agree or deny my claim just let out a frustrated breath. I managed a smile and nudged his shoulder with my own. The pain was slowly becoming a background annoyance as I walked on. We walked for hours and after a few hours my limp became predominate and I was amazed when Aragorn scooped me up into his arms and carried me until we entered a large chamber. Apparently this room use to have windows and most likely still did but it was probably night time outside and Gandalf insisted we stop for the night to give me and the hobbits some rest.

We spent the night in the cavernous room. Aragorn took first watch and each of the hobbits collapsed in a pile near Boromir and Gandalf. Legolas sat down next to me and Shadow Moon lay on the other side. I was about to lean back against one of the walls but Legolas wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into his side "Rest Echui, I know you are going to be stubborn and insist on walking again when we wake. My shoulder is much more comfortable than a hard wall."

I glanced up smiling at the gorgeous elf then shifted a bit trying to get comfortable. It was nearly impossible I hurt everywhere and the weird position my body was in made it hurt worse. Legolas seemed to read my thoughts because before I knew what was happening he had lifted me up and set me in his lap so that my head rested in the crook of his neck. I was startled but the position was comfortable and he was really warm, which was a great changed from the damp cold of the mines. I fell asleep almost instantly.

I woke to Frodos exclamation that it was morning, I slowly opened my eyes to see beautiful sunlight peaking through the openings at the top of the chamber. I groaned and attempted to roll over to avoid the light but couldn't move, I looked down to see a pair of arms tightly wrapped around my waist keeping me in place. I looked up at the face that was looking down at me smirking. Legolas' blond hair was still perfect even though we had been in the dirty mines for days. I was jealous but also loving how nice he looked. It shocked me that my thoughts kept straying to Legolas but I brushed it off to hitting my head when I got hurt.

I raised an eyebrow at him and then heard a growling from behind me. Shadow Moon didn't seem to like the way Legolas was holding me because he was growling at him. "You better let me go Legolas, Shadow moon isn't too happy, besides I think we are about to be left behind"

The others were already up and Gandalf seemed to be rushing us to move on. Legolas nodded briefly and Shadow Moon stopped growling, he waited while I slowly got up testing my ankle. It was soar but I could walk on it and my side hurt a bit but nothing I couldn't handle. We made our way towards a side chamber and found the tomb of Balin. Shadow could smell the scent of death around the room and even I was picking up the strange scent. I wondered how no one else could smell how over powering it was but guessed they might be passing it off as a scent coming from the tomb. I knew better not just because I had watched the movie but because I could smell it all around me not just from the tomb in front of me. As they found the book I started growling myself only Legolas seemed to notice. "What is wrong Echui?"

I looked at him and snorted "can't you all smell it? Sence it? This isn't the death chamber of one dwarf but many! There are bones all around us! Weapons scatter around of both Dwarf and the enemy. There was a battle here and this is where all the dwarves died! We are trapped with only two exits!"

I was freaking out, the scent of death was getting to me as well as the memory of the enemy finding us in this chamber. "We have to go! We have to go now! The enemy will find us here we have to get out of here before they come!"

The others were about to agree but then the drums sounded. I was too late! I growled and reached down finding my blade. "Too late, we have to fight then flee when we get a chance."

Gandalf watched me for a split second then went to yell out of the chamber. He reported back that it was mostly Orcs but a few Uruk but what worried us were the Trolls. We stood with our backs to the wall waiting, a Troll broke through the door but Aragorn and Frodo drove it back. Soon a battle had broke out and we were defending ourselves valiantly. Shadow Moon was watching my wounded side because I had trouble defending it. Legolas was also staying close to me but if anyone else tried I sent them back to help guard Frodo. We finally found a way out but a large Uruk leader attacked Frodo. For a moment I thought he was dead but I remembered in the movie that had happened and he had lived.

Aragorn picked Frodo up and we fled down the stairs leaving Gandalf behind. We ran down the stairs and after a brief flash of light Gandalf joined us. Frodo was ok and soon was back on his feet as we ran towards what ever destination Gandalf had in mind. We ran and soon it got hotter, I wasn't paying attention to anything but running, my side was screaming again as well as my ankle it took everything in me to just keep following the fellowship. When Gandalf stopped I closed my eyes trying to center myself and calm the pain. Legolas noticed me and walked over offering his shoulder to lean on, I gratefully accepted that and waited for us to move on.

We started off again and Legolas stayed close, the darkness soon started to lessen and what appeared to be firelight was seen ahead. Soon we could see the source of the fire it was below the path that we took, I may love fire but I felt like I was the fish that hung over the fire on camping trips. I was about to say something when the drum beats started again. Gandalf pointed out a bridge and we all took off. A rock bridge stretched over a never ending cavern and Gimli took the lead. We all ran and soon Orc arrows were being shot at us. I was so scared that the pain was all but forgotten as I ran with the group. I didn't hear anything or feel anything until Legolas cried about a Balrog. A shiver went down my spin because I knew what was coming. Part of me wanted to stop Gandalfs apparent demise but I knew that he needed to fall to the Balrog to become the white wizard.

Gandalf told us to Fly and so we ran all accept for Boromir and Aragorn the rest of us stopped by the archway. Gandalf sent them away and they reluctantly went. When the balrog came into full view he cried "you can not pass" yet the balrog seemed to mock him by snorting flames. Soon Gandalf and the Balrog were sword fighting. Aragorn and Boromir were about to go help Gandalf when he knocked the Balrog off the bridge and apparently won. From behind him we saw a whip come up and wrap around his leg he cried "Fly you fools!: and then he followed the Balrog into the abyss.

The rest of us stood for a brief moment in shock and sadness, I looked over to Aragorn's face knowing he was to be our new leader but the horror that spread across his face made me decide to deviate from what I knew to be the story. For now I would push the fellowship forward, let Aragorn grieve with the others. "Move it! We can not linger here waiting for our own demise! Gandalf bought us some time lets use it! COME ON!"

We all stumbled the last stretch of stairs and out the large door. Through a hall and even through there doors. I was leading followed by Legolas, Shadow Moon and Aragorn, Boromir brought up the rear. We could hear the drum beats the whole way and came across a guard of orcs. I drew my sword and between Shadow Moon and I we took down the Captain of the guard. The rest of the fellowship flew past the other guard and outside into the beautiful blue sky.

No one stopped running until we were well out of the archers range and then some. We could barely see the entrance when we stopped and turned around but we could still hear the drum beats on the soft winds and we saw smoke trailing out of the doorway. Finally the grief of losing Gandalf hit the fellowship and most of them fell to the ground. I stood watching the fellowship and found that I even had a few tears trekking down my cheeks. I knew he would return but I still mourned the loss of a friend for however brief of time it might last.

AN/ Alright Review Responses now!

L.D. Yes I'm back, it might take me a few days to get back to updating daily or every other day I was reading a few chapters ahead so that when I would write I didn't have to reference to much backwards but now I'm having to start over again and play catch up. But I'll be caught up soon and updating about every other day.

Mom22Boys Yup, wolves were an unexpected twist even for me but I think people like how it turned out. Plus I wanted Lana to have some influence in the story, nothing drastic but enough to show that she was there. I hate stories where they put in a 10th walker and they either change the whole bloody story or don't change a single thing. I like to show that she's there and some things change but she isn't going to take over the story.

Evethewind. Thank you for reviewing. Don't worry about grammar and spelling when reviewing I don't mind. I use to be horrible at grammar and well I'm still bad at spelling but spell check is my best friend LOL. My Indian blood is really diluted I'm only about 1/16th to 1/32nd I can't get a solid answer from my grandpa if it was his great grandma or his grandma that was full blooded Cherokee, and on my mom's side I'm 1/64th Algonquin but I'm still proud of my heritage. I'm mostly German, Norse, Irish and English I think, but my family has been here forever. Even the non Indian blood has been in American since it was founded so I am American through and through LOL. English is a hard language to master even for people born into the language, it has to many exceptions to rules. NEways the best thing I can tell you for learning English is to just practice practice practice. I've wrote stories since I was 14 on this website, and I had 3 stories deleted because people complained about my grammar. If you want to work on grammar just read what you've wrote out loud and ask yourself, if someone said this to me would it sound correct or would it confuse me. I don't know if this works for non native English speakers but it was what helped me. Good luck on getting better at English and I hope you enjoy the story.

CountryGirl6699,Druchii, Wolviegirl, Nataval, Melochany, Emmy Alice Heath, Lightwithin, Lady Secor and joyindenver thanks for replying I appreciate it!


	9. Chapter 9

AN Alright everyone my wrist is killing me tonight, I've been pulling triple duty trying to make everyone happy. I'm doing my best so bare with me K loves? I'll do my dangdest o keep updating frequently. I'm sorry to say that all the readers who know me I'm a sporadic poster. I'll post a few chapters in a row then have a small bout of writers block stopping my writing for a week to a month… then another round of chapters… so on and so forth. Just keep reading and reviewing I'll do my best to keep the breaks between updates to a minimum.

Once on a Blue Moon

Chapter 9

We all stopped for a brief breather, I had lead the group out of the mines but that was as far as I could take them, I didn't know my way from here. I wanted to sit down badly, my side and ankle were screaming but I knew if I sat down I would never get back up and the threat of Orc and Uruk had not vanished completely. Aragorn seemed to since my reluctance to lead any longer.

"Alas I fear we cannot stay here longer, Farewell, Gandalf. What hope have we without you?" He then turned to the rest of us and sighed "We must do without hope at least we may yet be avenged Let us gird ourselves and weep no more! Come we have a long road and much to do"

Everyone slowly got up and we started to move on. Soon Gimli cried out about some land mark but I wasn't paying much attention except that Gimli along with Frodo and Sam but I didn't followed them. When they returned we moved on and the ground seemed to start sloping down, this was a blessing because the decline made it easier to walk and any limping could be passed off as careful steps or a miss step. I did pay attention when Legolas, who was only a few feet in front of me, cried out that he could see Lothlorien. I aptly listened to his description of the beautiful woods and I let my mind drift to envision the beauty that awaited us in just a couple leagues.

I was snapped out of my daze when Aragorn called for us to start off again and the group picked up their pace, I knew that I had already been having trouble keeping up and as my gaze drifted behind me I found Sam and Frodo seeming to have even more trouble than me. I looked down to Shadow and sighed "Help the hobbits Shadow, if they start to stumble tell me and if they start to waver in their steps support them please." 

The wolf glared at me and mumbled something about not being a baby setter but he knew how much Frodo's safety meant to me so he dropped back to watch Frodo for me. I let my eyes wander up to the head of the group and saw Aragorn and Legolas seemed to be totally focused on the goal of reaching Lothlorien as soon as possible. I knew for our own safety we needed to make it but part of me wanted to call to them and alert how much trouble the hobbits and I were going to have keeping up.

I decided to wait until Shadow Moon told me that the hobbits were struggling then I would draw attention to our pains. We ran for what felt like hours and I stumbled a few times but quickly got my bearings and moved on. The tree line was visible even to me when a sharp yip called my attention to the hobbits behind me. I let out a growl of my own hoping that Legolas or Aragorn would have noticed how far behind the hobbits had lagged but they hadn't looked back once since we set out. I took a deep breath then put a little extra energy into my pace until I had caught up with the leaders. Boromir and Gimli gave me a strange look because I had started growling out loud. I first thwacked Aragorn on the back of the head then Legolas, this drew them both to and abrupt halt as they at first looked around to see what had hit them then saw me. The fact that I could hit either of them was testament to how distracted they were by the lour of Lothlorien.

"I know the golden woods is a beautiful sight, and the prospect of a simi safe sleep sounds glorious to all the fellowship but a few of us are wounded and need this wonderful thing called food to give us energy to finish the trek to said safety."

Both elf and half elf gave me a curious look before glancing back to see Frodo and Sam panting. Sam was clutching his side and Frodo was flinching with every panted breath. Aragorn and Legolas let out a yelp as they realized how distracted they had gotten in their goals. Aragorn called Boromir to him and they quickly picked up the two injured hobbits saying that there was a place we could rest for a bit just a little further. I let out a sigh and watched as yet again the group took off, this time I was at the back of the pack. Shadow Moon stayed by my side and complained about the group ignoring my injuries. I glared down at him snorting "Stop complaining Moon, my injuries are old and have already begun to heal, the hobbits have fresh wounds that is all they worry about"

Shadow Moon growled and if he was human would have probably rolled his eyes but stopped complaining, at least to me. We ran and I stumbled a few times finally I watched as Shadow Moon ran up and started growling viciously at Legolas and Aragorn. It was Frodo who seemed to figure out what he wanted. "He must be worried about Alana, it can't be very easy to do all this traveling with her hurt ankle."

Legolas dropped back so that he was pacing with me and seemed to watch me for a moment "You should have said something, you came and scolded us for running the hobbits to hard yet your injuries haven't had proper rest to heal either."

I sighed and shook my head "Moon is over reacting, it hurts but I can make it to where ever Aragorn is leading us."

He glared at me and shook his head but I glared right back, with a sigh he shook his head "Fine, but the next time you stumble I will pick you up and carry you just like the hobbits. And don't argue, I think your wolf would bite me if I didn't do just that"

I let out a defeated sigh but relented and we continued running. I was upset when only a few minutes later I stumbled and before I knew what was happening Legolas had swept me up in his arms. I hated it but a relieved sigh escaped me and I heard a slight laugh coming from both Legolas and Shadow Moon. They ran until the sun had gotten low in the sky then finally stopped to treat the hobbits wounds. Legolas carefully sat me by the fire and placed a rolled blanket under my leg to prop it up, I wanted to remove my boot but Legolas said that if I removed my boot we would never get it back on so I sighed and laid back against Shadow Moon's soft black side to get a few moments rest while they checked out Frodo and Sam's injuries.

Gimli and the other hobbits made a small fire and boiled some water for Aragorns use but also made a simple meal for all of us to share. Legolas brought me my share and helped me sit up so that Shadow Moon could go off to hunt a meal of his own. He sat behind me and let me rest back against his chest so that I wasn't lying fully on the hard ground. We ate in silence and I dreaded the final stretch to the golden woods.

When the camp had been torn down and any indication that we were ever there cleared from the land everyone got up to leave but Shadow Moon let out a vicious growl when Legolas got up to go without me. Frodo and Sam were going to move again but Shadow Moon refused to let me run. He knew Legolas couldn't understand him but he pointed his nose towards me then looked back at him. It only took Legolas a split second to realize what he wanted and he laughed. "Yes, yes stubborn wolf. I am not forgetting your mistress. We both know how stubborn she is, I had planed on letter her at least try before I insisted on helping her the rest of the way"

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest pouting like a child but I knew that I wouldn't have made it far. The break had not helped my ankle, in reality I could feel that my boot was even tighter since we sat down to rest. The fellowship chuckled at the wolf and the elf but once I was back in Legolas' arms we were off towards the forest that awaited us. The sun set over the horizon and we were sill making our way to the forest. Its great shadow grew closer and seemed to loom hundreds of feet above us. Boromir seemed reluctant to enter the woods stating that every path we have taken has lead to danger and ill tidings, but Aragorn and Legolas insisted there was nothing to fear.

We made our way into the forest until we approached a stream and Legolas smiled "Here is Nimrodel, of this stream the Silvan Elves made many songs long ago, and still we sing them in he North, remembering the rainbow on its falls, and the golden flowers that floated in its foam…" he went on and everyone listened as he told the story of Nimrodel. His voice was beautiful and I was lucky enough to be pressed against his chest while he sang. The mixture of his beautiful voice, warm body and soft vibrations calmed all worries that had been plaguing me since the journey had began. I couldn't change anyone's fate, even when I tried. What was meant to be will be, all I could do is try to survive this journey and make sure Frodo survives.

The company had started walking again and I realized that I must have drifted off for a few. We finally made our way off the path and drifted deeper into the woods and came to a group of trees that were apparently going to be our home for the night. Gimli and the hobbits were not to keen on the idea of sleeping in trees, I was always up to trying things once but I wasn't sure exactly how they expected me to get up the trees with a bum ankle and I wasn't sure how Shadow Moon would get up either. Legolas easily let me down, checking to make sure that I was steady on my feet before easily hopping up to grasp the lowest branch.

He was about to hoist himself up higher when a sharp voice called out "Daro!"

Legolas dropped and hushed everyone telling us to stand still, I had to reach out and place a hand on Moon's head to keep him from growling or attacking. We heard laughter and then a different voice speak. Only Aragorn and Legolas knew what they were saying but we all heeded Legolas' warning and stood still waiting for someone to inform us what was going on.

Finally Legolas translates some saying that we breathed too hard but had no reason to fear. And that they asked him and Frodo to climb up to talk while we all waited at the base. Soon a ladder was let down and Frodo and Legolas disappeared up it. We heard muffled talking and I looked at Shadow Moon to tell me what was going on "They worry about the Dwarf, you and me. They have heard my kind calling while we were in the mountain, though they did not understand that they were most likely searching for signs of your scent and mine. They saw Orcs a few days ago and say we should take refuge up in the trees. The hobbits are to stay in this tree and the rest of us are to go to another tree. TREES! Can you imagine a wolf sleeping in a tree, it is unheard of. I should be just fine on the solid ground."

I growled back shaking my head "Where I go you go and I will not sleep on the ground where Orcs could get me"

Moon growled and shook his head but relented. Just then the ladder was let down and Legolas came down to deliver the message for where we would sleep. The four hobbits clamored up the ladder, once they were safely up Legolas walked to another tree while Aragorn hid our equipment. Gimli was sent up first then I made my way up slowly. When I got to the top I saw two elves rigging up what looked like a harness and they seemed to grumble as they lowered it to the ground. Legolas quickly put it on Moon then the elves hauled him up to the top. Once he was up Legolas, Boromir and Aragorn quickly ascended the ladder.

The two elves found their own little spots to rest and seemed to ignore the rest of us except to keep a weary eye on Gimli, Moon and me. Aragorn quickly found a spot, as did Boromir. Gimli, Moon and I set up a spot nearly on the other side of the talan. Legolas seemed torn wanting to speak to the other elves but for some reason he seemed to be looking at me as if he wanted to sit with me. He seemed to make up his mind as he walked over to the other Elves and began speaking in their language. The only word I recognized was Echui and that puzzled me until one of the strange elves got up and walked to a corner of the talan and dug through a pile of objects. He returned to Legolas holding out some stranger jar and what looked like a medieval ace bandage.

Legolas seemed to thank him then walked back over to me. "Let me look at your ankle Echui, no one has seen it since Aragorn looked at it the day you were injured."

I realized I had yet to even see the damage to the throbbing appendage. I nodded and leaned back against Moon gripping a fist full of fur as Legolas carefully slipped off the boot. At first the boot refused to come off, it was too tight. He worked on it for a while before finally getting it off, it hurt badly. As the boot came off we saw the damage, my ankle was black and blue from about 6 inchs above my ankle down into the foot. It was swollen twice the size it should be. I wondered how I even managed to walk on the blasted thing but fear and adrenaline could work wonders when it comes to pain.

He was scowling at my ankle and I knew he wanted to scold me but he also knew that we didn't have a choice. If I would have clung to one of the fellowship members in the mine someone could have gotten killed. He took the jar and opened it. Apparently it was some kind of elfin salve. He gently took my foot into his hand and then gently rubbed the salve in and almost instantly it started feeling better. Once he finished with the salve he took the long strip of fabric and wrapped my ankle up tight, but not tight enough to cut off circulation.

He sat for a moment looking at me then shook his head "Let me see your side. I know it is improper but I need to make sure it isn't infected."

I smirked and shook my head "Don't worry about it, I understand and where I come from some girls walk around showing a lot more than a small bit of skin on their sides."

He blushed and cleared his throat. I released my fist full of fur then turn slightly raising my shirt up enough for him to see the long gash in my side. It was irritated and crusted over with dried blood where it apparently opened multiple times while we ran and I fought but no infection was apparent. He took the same salve and began gently rubbing it into the wound. It felt wonderful and I let out a long sigh. Once he finished I lowered my shirt and looked around the talan. Everyone was asleep, except the elves, they seemed to be watching us curiously. I sighed and shook my head then looked back at Legolas, "Time to get some rest, I have a feeling tomorrow will be a long day."

He nodded and to my amazement settled himself down next to me. He smirked and looked at Moon "You need to prop your foot up, I bet your furry companion wouldn't mind being a warm foot rest"

I looked down at Moon who just rolled his eyes and moved so that he would be where he needed to prop my foot up. Legolas laid down and had me rest my head on his chest while my leg was propped up on Moon. It was strange, I remembered doing something similar with my best guy friend when I was fourteen. I had sprained my ankle and we sat laid on the L couch watching a movie just like this but something felt different. The warm feelings I had for Legolas were definitely not friendship and the vibes I was getting off of the Elf seemed far from friendship. I just hoped I wasn't reading him wrong and getting my hopes up for nothing.

AN

There you go 2 updates in a short period of time. I hope you like it, probably has lots of mistakes and I'll go back and re read it later but I wanted to get this update up ASAP. Read and review please!


	10. Chapter 10

AN Well thank you everyone for all the wonderful reviews. I am sorry for my LARGE delay in updating but I've started back at college and I'm taking a Lit course that requires a LOT of reading and writing. My finals are coming up (YEAH!) and I am taking a day away from homework to work on this story and the others. I also got a JOB! WOOT WOOT I work with kids now! It is awesome!

Once on a Blue Moon

Chapter 10

Morning came way too quickly for my taste but I knew that I would have to get up when the sounds of Hobbit voices reached my ears. I could still feel my leg raising and falling with every breath Moon took. I cracked an eye open to find that my pillow had been replaced sometime while I slept with Legolas' cloak. I turned my attention down to Moon who was watching me with a rather impatient look in his eyes. "Finally awake I see. The elf has been up for hours as have I."

I glared down at Moon and snorted "Not all of us are morning people Moon, and of course the elves are up, they rarely sleep. Beyond that I'm sure that Legolas is just over joyed to be on his way to such a beautiful elvin city. So be quiet and when I raise my foot slip out as easily as you can so as not to jostle my foot too much."

He let out a huff but did as I said and as I raised my foot up slightly with a groan he shimmed out from under my leg as carefully as possible then moved to my side so that I could use him as support while sitting up. Once I was situated sitting up and comfortably leaning against Moon's side I let my eyes wander the talan. Legolas was over with Aragorn and Boromir talking in hushed tones and then I let my eyes drift to the elves who occupied the tree. They were watching me cautiously but I could see the question in their eyes. They must have noticed me talking, well growling, at Moon. Although I spoke to him a few times I figured they were either occupied or polite enough to not bother me while Legolas was attending to my injuries. I sighed and tilted my head slightly in an inquiring look. Finally one of the elves walked over to me but kept a distance from Moon. "You are the wolf's master?"

I chuckled slightly "No, Moon is my guardian but he definitely isn't my pet"

He watched me for a second and nodded slightly "You can speak to him in his own language?"

I sighed, either he couldn't speak the common language in middle earth too well or he really didn't want to talk to a lowly human but his curiosity got the better of him…. Or he lost a bet with the other elf but I guess I'll never know. "Yes, I can speak to the wolves. Don't ask me how or why, I am not exactly sure myself but I can. Moon here is my protector but he is not tame. BUT he is trustworthy he will protect me and anyone I am protecting."

The elf seemed a bit upset at that but nodded and moved away. I heard a snort from near me and turned to find Gimli having woke up with a start and was looking around cautiously "Dwarves sleeping in trees preposterous!"

I chuckled and his eyes darted to me. "Well you slept in the tree so it isn't totally preposterous Gimli… but Moon agrees with you. He said nearly the same words last night"

Gimli laughed a deep echoing laugh and all eyes drew to him in our talan, and my guess the talan in the other tree as well. "Smart wolf you have there Ek. NOW When can I get down from this death trap?"

Legolas chuckled and said something to the other elves. A voice came from the other talan and soon the two strange elves were lowering the ladder and everyone began to descend. I had yet to move and Legolas came over. "How is your leg feeling Echui?"

I groan and chewed on my lip. "There is still a dull ache but I have yet to even attempt to put any pressure on it. I haven't touched the bandages either."

He sighed and it was only then that I noticed that Moon, Legolas and I were the only ones remaining in the talan. He gently reached out taking my ankle in his hands. He slowly unwrapped the bandages and thankfully the swelling had reduced, though it was still larger than normal. He gave me a half smile, both of us glad that it was showing improvement but it was evident that it would be very difficult for me to walk on it. One of the other elves returned to the top of the talan and rambled off a few words. Legolas looked at me sighing "They want to lower Moon down but they wanted you to tell him to behave"

I nodded and looked over at Moon. "Get your butt down there and wait for me, and don't growl or snap at those elves. They are already too jumpy already"

He growled at me but nodded and trotted over to the wolves standing there while they cautiously refitted the harness and lowered him quickly to the ground. I let my eyes shift to Legolas and sighed "I can't climb down that thing, going up is one thing when the adrenaline is still rushing through my body but now I don't want to risk falling down." 

He watched me for a second than nodded. "It shouldn't be too hard to fix the harness to work for you. But it won't be very comfortable."

I shrugged signaling that I didn't care so before I could blink he had scooped me up in his arms and carried me over to the edge of the loft where the other elf was waiting with the makeshift harness. The strange elf quickly untied the knots and was about to retire them around me when Legolas snatched them from his hands. Part of me was grateful because I really didn't want a stranger pawing at me, but another part of me would rather have a stranger because every time Legolas wrapped his arms around me to pass the rope behind my back or had me shift so that he could make me a 'seat' I had to hide a blush and a shutter that ran down my spine.

Finally the harness was completed and after a few quick words to Aragorn the two elves lowered me down into Aragorn's waiting arms. I sighed and glared at him "Put me down, slowly I need to at least test if I can walk on my own before I become the damsel in distress"

He gave me a warm smile and nodded laughing softly. He shifted me slightly in his arms then leaned down slightly so that my feet could touch at my will. I first put my good foot down and then shifted so that all my weight was on it. He stood up helping me and still I stood only on my good foot. Once I was fully standing on my own only holding tightly onto Aragorn's arm did I test putting weight on my hurt ankle. A hiss escaped me quickly after and I was glad that I had ahold of Aragorn because the pain that shot up my leg nearly had my knees giving out from under me. I quickly was swept back into Aragorn's arms and I let out a grumble "Great… just great… what are you guys going to do… carry me all the way to Lorien?"

He just smiled at me and gave a half shrug. "If we must."

One of the Elves rambled off something to Aragon and his face fell. "We will need to cross a path that it would be difficult to carry you and Moon they recommend we leave you here"

I let out my own growl and struggle "Then let me down I'll walk there myself… I am not being left behind!"

He held on tight refusing to release me and finally I gave up. "Fine but I'll make it across the thing on my own… as for Moon I'll deal with him"

Moon looked at me curiously and I sighed "We have to cross something that they can't help you across. Go, check in with the wolves and Worgs give them an update on how I'm doing and where we are going. When we get to Lorien I'll talk to someone and see if there is a way to get you there."

Moon laughed and gave me a coy grin "I know how to get to what the elves call Lorien, but it will take me about a week. I'll make a detour and talk to my pack Alpha so a little longer. If you leave before than please leave me scent markers to help find you."

I nod and sigh tugging on Aragorn's shirt "Help me down to his level I need to say goodbye for a while until he finds me again." 

Aragorn nodded and knelt down slightly so that I could reach out and scratch Moon behind the ears and under the chin. "Behave, and don't push yourself too hard. We'll be there a while, no one will leave me behind and my ankle will take me few weeks to heal… a month at the most. Spend time with your mate and your pack, I am safe within the walls of Lorien."

Moon didn't seem happy to be leaving me but he agreed and after pressing his cold wet nose to my cheek he ran off letting off a long low howl. I let out my own howl in return then tapped Aragorn's shoulder and he stood up giving me a sad smile. "He'll be back… he needs to spend time with his mate and pack…"

Once Moon was well out of sight the fellowship and the elves escorting us started on our way to Lorien. The group walked for hours and I was passed between Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas so no one got to tired. When we finally got to the river that we would have to cross Legolas refused to let me down and insisted that he could easily carry me across as long as I sat perfectly still in his arms. I wanted to protest but I knew that it would be difficult for me to shimmy across the ropes on a sprined ankle. So I did as he asked and once the ropes were up he shifted me until he felt he had his balance then I took slow calm breaths as he darted light as air across the ropes to the other side. The moment his feet touched the ground I let out a shuttering breath and squeezed his neck slightly.

It took a while for the rest of the fellowship to get across the rope bridges but when everyone was settled the elves informed us that me and Gimli would need to be blindfolded. Gimli started to put up a fuss but I raised my hand silencing him. "Stop Gimli, have the elves blindfold us all, except perhaps Aragorn or Legolas because someone has to carry me and no offense but I don't trust anyone else but them to tote me around."

Gimli let out a huff but nodded he seemed to want to protest against Legolas but he also knew that I was already comfortably situated in Legolas' arms. So because the elves were more comfortable with Legolas seeing the path to Lorien everyone except for Legolas was blindfolded. Again they started to walk, it was slow going because we were all being led around like lambs on ropes. I couldn't see anything but the smells and sounds of the forest had grown and I was overwhelmed by the scent coming from the Elf that was holding me.

I let my head rest against his chest enjoying the sound of his heartbeat. The quiet that we traveled in was making me a bit tired but I refused to go to sleep. I tried to identify where everyone was by the sounds of their footsteps. The elves were nearly silent though I did catch slight sounds every so often. Gimli's steps were heavy and sturdy he was directly behind Legolas and me. Aragorn's footfalls were nearly as silent as the elves but they had more depth to them. Boromir's steps were nowhere near silent but they were further apart than the four smaller sets of footsteps that seemed to be nearly sprinting. The cautious stumbling steps were most likely Sam while the ones that sounded like they were right next to those were probably Frodo's. The other two were almost indistinguishable from each other so they had to have been Pip and Merry.

The day went slowly and I drifted in and out of sleep but finally we stopped for the evening to rest. They wouldn't take our blindfolds off but Legolas refused to leave me so I ended up curled up against his side nibbling on the food that we were given. I whined slightly tilting my head back so that I could 'look' up at the sky. "I miss watching the stars already."

Legolas placed a hand on mine and began describing in beautiful detail what he could see of the sky. I let my covered eyes drift close and I tried to imagine the beauty that I was missing. Apparently the area we had stopped was a clearing with an open view of the sky. The beautiful nearly full moon was high in the sky illuminating the clearing well. It was amazing that we had only on this quest for just shy of a month I was keeping track by the moon cycles. Ironically New Years was marked by the New moon. This year celebrated a double new moon in January.

Legolas continued to describe the beauty around us but I found my mind drifting to the warmth and woodsy scent that belonged to the elegant elf. All day he had been the one thing that overwhelmed my senses and so my mind had barely left him. He wasn't the typical male that drew my attention. I usually went for the dark bad boy type… more like Aragorn. But for the first time in my life I was finding myself drawn to the pretty boy. The sweet man who held doors for me, helped me mount a horse and made sure that I was comfortable. He also had beautiful hair and his eyes were so deep and warm you could almost fall into them and never find your way out.

In my silence Legolas must have guessed me asleep because I felt his hand brush against my cheek and then run through some lose trills of hair. I was shocked but restrained myself from moving or indicating that I was awake and aware of his actions. He whispered a few things that I could not understand then moved ever so slightly so that I would be more comfortable.

I had spent the majority of the night lying awake listening to the sounds around me. It must have been because I spent the previous day drifting in and out of sleep. I had heard a stranger approaching and speaking to the two elves that were our guides just before what felt like dawn but I still have no idea what he said to them. Soon the sounds of the camp coming to life reached my ears and I reached up to poke Legolas in the chest. "Wake up sleeping beauty it sounds like it is about time to get going."

He chuckled and helped me shift so that he could get up and stretch out. I sighed hating that I was stuck relying on someone else to help me get around but I did my best to not show it. I heard a call across the clearing and then Legolas let out a happy yell. He surprised me by dipping down and quickly removing my blindfold and I blinked a few times letting my eyes adjust to the low light of the morning. "Word has come from Lorien that the whole fellowship can travel without blindfold and see the wonders of the forests!"

I laughed and then let my eyes drift to the rest of our group. Gimli was groaning and rubbing the sleep out of his now uncovered eyes. The hobbits were still asleep and blindfolded except for Sam who was up and trying to make sure that Frodo was fine. I then let my eyes wander down to my leg and before I could even move to inspect it myself, Legolas was knelt down carefully unbinding it to inspect how it was healing. It was luckily looking even better today than before but I still wasn't willing to test it out until someone who was more knowledgeable in the healing arts could inspect it.

He finished his inspection then wrapped it back up. He went to pick me up but with the movement I decided that perhaps I needed to test it out for myself. I really had to use the bathroom and I refused to have any male help me unless it was an absolute must, the previous day I had no choice because I was blindfolded but today, well no way... "Um… just help me up, I need to go about my morning routine and I believe that I should be able to handle that on my own."

He seemed reluctant but agreed and he quickly lifted me into his arms with a rather loud protest from me before toting me a little away from the group then finding a fallen tree for me to use to support myself while I finished my morning routine. "Call if you need me I won't be far away"

I groaned but nodded he sat me down on the log then vanished off into the forest. It took a little bit of inventiveness but I finished my morning bathroom break then called out to Legolas. He quickly scooped me into his arms again and took off towards the group. When we returned everyone was awake and there was food being passed around. I smiled at my hobbits and they each came over to check on me. Sam handed me something to eat and drink and Legolas as well before going back to take care of Frodo and make sure he ate.

Soon the camp was broke down and we were back on the road to Lorien. The forest was beautiful and now that we were unblindfolded I was being passed around like a hot potato again. Boromir was always making jokes about the elves and why they had been so secretive "It isn't like we would ever find our way through this forest without them. Every tree looks the same to me"

I laughed and agreed, Aragorn kept pestering me about how my leg was feeling if he even jolted me the slightest thing. I finally begged to be passed off to Legolas and he laughed as he hoisted me into his arms. Thankfully he kept mostly quiet only commenting every now and then about animals we saw or unique looking trees. The sun was just lowering below the treeline when we saw the first signs of Lorien. The sight before us was breath taking, I had thought Rivendell was beautiful but Lorien was just amazing.

AN/ Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of update school and life take their tolls but I'm trying! I'm also (YET AGAIN) looking for my LOTR book… I"ll find it soon hopefully!


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